The Other Avatar
by AnnieSometimes
Summary: There are TWO Avatars? Or is there just the one? Wren is a rough and tough-as-nails girl who grew up in the woods, practicing her Bending abilities at the same time Aang and the Gang are preparing to fight Lord Ozai. What's really going on here?
1. The Beginning of The Journey

A/N: This is my first Fan Fiction that I've ever posted, so any criticism would be greatly appreciated. I mean the good and bad kind, too. ^^

There wasn't anything to do. Wren sat down, nonplussed. She _always_ had something to do. She ran over her list of daily chores through her head. The water was brought in and boiling away, the plants were looking healthy and watered, and her Leopard-Bear, Moose, happily bouncing around after a dragon-fly. The fire was warm and healthy, much thanks to her bending. She sighed, used to doing things, used to action.

She got up and clambered into the cave with a little difficulty, seeing as its' entrance was a few feet up from the ground. Usually Shiro helped her up – she honestly didn't need it, but Shiro insisted on the fact that despite her powers, she was still 'just a girl'. She felt a pang of a familiar feeling. It confused her, feeling pain over her old mentor's absence. He was a cold, venerable, and hard-pressed old man who had little patience and even less mercy, but he had dedicated his life - leaving his life in Ba Sing Se - to her, and to her training. Without him, she'd just be another helpless bender out there with no sense of right or wrong, and she might not even have had the grip she had on her powers if not for him. Despite his obvious animosity towards her, he had still selflessly devoted his life to the cause. She would always owe him for that.

It disgusted her, to think of all that power, _her_ power, gone to waste. It disgusted her that if not for one miserable, sexist old coot, she would have just been another useless opponent for the Fire Nation to dispose of quickly and efficiently. Just another useless Avatar. Of less use, even, than the last one. Nobody even knew what had happened to him, anyway, the sly dog.

The more she thought about the old Avatar, the less she blamed him. She would have ducked out on this life, too, if she had the choice. But Shiro had found her. Shiro had known when others had not. She wouldn't have abandoned her Avatar responsibilities anyway, once she knew. Fire Lord Ozai had to be apprehended. She was the only one with that power.

The cave was neat, as usual. There were only two rooms, one for her and one for Shiro, separated long-ways by a stone wall that she herself had raised, once Earth-Bending had become easy for her. A few days after that, she remembered Shiro raising another wall, so that the walls were in a T formation, giving them both suitable doorways on opposite sides of the cave. In her room, on her side of the wall, she had scratched designs in the wall, crudely-drawn pictures of things she used to know, in the corners. Shiro had dominated the center of the walls with battle stances and tactics from all four elements, as well as a map, as good as he could draw it, of the world they lived in. She walked around to Shiro's side, a place she had never gone.

As much time as they had spent together, he never told her anything about his life before bumping into her (literally) outside of Ba Sing Se, and she had always been curious. Every time she asked, she was promptly punished with a shower of small rocks whipping at her from all sides, occasionally cutting her skin and always leaving bruises. By the time she had learned to block this she had learned not to ask. She was surprised that she had never even so much as glanced into his room, even.

Shiro's wall was empty. His room was bare. His bedding, even, was scarce; plain white with a line of green along the edge, and a simple, wrinkle-free pillow. Wren didn't know why this surprised her; this was Shiro, after all. Simplicity was his mantra. She walked out of Shiro's room. It was a surprising reminder of losing her mother, and everything else after that. With a jolt, Wren realized that she could return to civilization now, without Shiro holding her back. He'd been the one to take her here to the middle of the woods, so as to make training easier, and much less noticeable, and therefore a greater threat to the Fire Nation. They couldn't kill that which they couldn't even see. Wren felt uneasy. This new feeling was unsettling. She'd been given lessons in manners and society and even book-education and mathematics from Shiro, of course, who had once admitted that he was well-learned in books – but that didn't mean that she was ready for society. Not at all.

This brought along newer, more fear-inducing questions. What was she going to do about her training? She couldn't even wrap her head around bending _air_. It was so…intangible. Earth and of course, Water, her native element, were the easiest because they were very much the same in the mechanics of bending. They were very nearly polar opposites in the way they acted, but the moves were much the same. Fire was the second-hardest. She had had so much trouble with it. But Shiro, unfailing in his dedication to training the Avatar despite his obvious disdain of her being a girl, had stuck with her through all the frustration and the burns. She had eventually found the energy pool in her body from which to pull from to make fire, and how to breathe to control it. But air – Shiro hadn't even begun with air, as they were still working on fire. She'd tried air-bending before, but to no avail as far as she could tell. Perhaps it had just been particularly windy that day? Who knew?

She hopped down from the cave and looked for Moose. He was happily chewing on the dragon-fly. She sighed again_. If only Shiro could see me now_, she thought, _he'd have a fit_. She'd done both of their chores in half the time it took to do one. But then again, she reasoned, she was only hunting and gathering for one, now. She felt another pang of grief. Shiro would never see the tidy camp site. She would never see him again.

She honestly hadn't known that his devotion would go that far. They were training with Earth-Bending (Thank God) in a wide meadow a few miles from town and even more miles from here when a few Fire Nation thugs came from the trees looking for money or something else, she couldn't tell, and Shiro…poor Shiro. She had just enough time to run before they turned on her. Had she remained in the meadow, money wouldn't have been the most persuasive or tempting thing to take away from her. She took the wide route, avoiding the camp site for days. She and Moose had only just returned the previous day to find everything surprisingly neat.

She flopped down on a small, expertly-crafted stone bench by the fire. Being only seventeen, she couldn't imagine living alone. That's when she heard the voices coming from behind her. She leapt into action, grabbing Moose by his long tail, as she so often did, and bolted down the hill to a nearby lower, smaller cave used mainly for hiding from people. It wasn't big enough for anything else.

Two men came up on the hill, and Wren could hear their talking due to the wind blowing in her direction. Something about Fire Nation, something about the Avatar. _So_, _she thought, they know_. She took action immediately. Whistling for Moose, she pulled Fire from her limbs and hurled it at the two men. If they were Fire Nation looking for her, maybe they would spare her if they thought she was Fire Nation. She was there in the clearing before her cave. There was an older man, and a boy about her age. His face was scarred – he'd been hurt by the Fire Nation, too. The fire stopped flowing through her body. In the second her attack stopped, the old man had her in a head lock and the scarred boy had his hand pointing at his face in the classic Fire Nation execution style.

"A girl? A girl attacked us?" the boy said in a somewhat raspy, yet surprisingly gentle voice.

"What of it?" she snapped, "You're the ones that invaded my home"

The old man let her go.

"Terribly sorry, miss. You said you lived here? We've been here for a few days, and it's been vacant"

"Well, I was on what one should be able to call a _vacation_" Wren snapped again, realizing that they might not think she was the Avatar. _Typical,_ she thought, _they expect the Avatar to be a damn boy. _

"Should be?" the old man inquired.

"Well, it wasn't pleasant. My…my uh…well.."

"Is this about who the second bedroom belongs to?" the man asked quietly. Wren stared wide-eyed at him.

"How'd you know that?"

"Just a guess," he wheezed with a smile, "After all, what's a pretty girl doing out here all alone, if something had not happened to her partner?"

"…Partner? He wasn't my_ partner_! I don't need anybody here to _take care of me!_" she exclaimed, offended. Now the man was puzzled again.

"Then what was he doing with you out here, all alone?"

Wren was lost for words. Right when she had gotten them to the point of being friendly, she had gotten herself back into hot water. Even though fire wasn't her native element, she felt heat run through her body. She decided that she might as well tell the truth, or at least most of it.

"He was my master. We….we were training"

"Fire-Bending all the way out in the boonies of the Earth Kingdom? Where's the sense in that? Your powers seem quite advanced for your age – you could probably get into a top school in Omashu" The old man said.

"…Omashu?" she asked again carefully. Thanks to maps and general knowledge from Shiro, she was fairly certain that Omashu was an Earth Kingdom city. Had the Fire Nation taken it? It made her sad to realize that they wouldn't be saying that she could attend a Fire Bending school if the school wasn't in the Fire Nation.

"My name is Iroh, and this is my nephew, Zuko"

The name "Zuko" struck a cord with Wren. Zuko, Zuko, Zuko…Zuko THE PRINCE OF THE FIRE NATION. Her mouth hung open.

"_Prince_ Zuko?"

The handsome young Prince blushed.

"Forgive my nephew, he's a bit embarrassed about his, uh, well…"

"Well, you _were_ banished" Wren said shortly, directly to Zuko. The sooner they left, the better. Wren needed to figure out what she was going to do about Air Bending.

Zuko just looked at her. She glared back, making her face hard despite the fact that she knew that she should take him on now and get it over with. Something in her pulled her back. She, somehow, didn't _want_ to hurt Zuko. She shook her head. She had to hurt him. She had to kill him. There was no other way.


	2. That's Impossible

A/N – The second chapter! Sweet! By the way, this story takes place after Zuko leaves the Fire Nation during the Day of Black Sun to join the Avatar. Looks like he's found her, but he doesn't know what he's found, and she doesn't know who he's _really_ looking for. Enjoy! Critique! Or, you know, favorite it. Whatever floats your boat ;]

Wren felt guilty. She had deceived these two men, leading them to believe that she was just another young, unfortunate ward of a late Fire-Bending master. She knew that she should feel triumphant; Fire-Nation leaders were dumber than they looked! She had fooled them. Then why did she feel guilty?

She had never been able to test her skills in lying– Shiro had always been able to tell when she wasn't being truthful because his Earth-Bending allowed him to be able to tell. But apparently these Fire Benders just swallowed her lies like water. She was, in truth, amazed at her own cunning – her cool demeanor in the face of the unsuspecting enemy. Maybe this part of being the Avatar was the cooler half. What bugged her about lying to them, though, was their damn _hospitality._ She didn't think the man would make her _tea_ for Spirits' sake! Or to beg humbly to stay at her dwelling for a few days' rest. She gaped at Iroh open-mouthed for a good thirty seconds before she could say anything.

She had approved simply to keep up the pretense. Didn't normal Fire Nation yuppies usually show respect for their betters that way? She had wondered why they were so surprised by her assent. She didn't know about Fire Nation culture; _nobody_ outside the Fire Nation did. At this point, she was just winging it. If worst came to worst, she could always just duke it out. Last time she checked, three elements topped one, despite the fact that she was outnumbered, Moose not included. But no matter how she looked at it, it was a 50/50 chance. She didn't like those odds, but that's what they were.

Three days after Iroh had asked for he and Zuko could stay in Shiro's old bedroom, Wren was thinking that maybe this wasn't as bad as she had originally thought. They were hunting now, and she was perfectly alone. Even Moose was out and about. She hadn't said much to the Fire-Benders, nor they to her. The only personal question they had asked her thus far was last night, and it was how she had gotten into this situation all the way out here in the first place. She had awoken to find their note – they had already gone. She remembered back to the previous night.

In answering their question, she had decided that telling the truth, or at least the better part of it, would suffice. She remembered forcing as much hardened irritation into her tone as she could, simply because it was Zuko who had asked.

"My Father died before I was born in the war –" she had stopped dead, thinking her slip had been a fatal one. But their faces had been nothing but patient and polite curiosity; she realized that she hadn't specified which side her father had been fighting for. She continued. "And then I was born…and the first memory I have is of Sifu Shiro" she had lied easily. "My theory is that my Mother wanted me to be as fine a solider as my father was, so she gave me to a master right off the bat" she finished.

"Who was your father?" Iroh had asked. Wren drew a blank. She of course couldn't give them her father's _real_ name; it was too obviously water-bender. A man named Azul would never make it through the rigorous testing it took to become a Fire-Nation solider.

"I-I don't remember!" she cried as she pretended to choke up. Prince Zuko had reached over to pat her on the shoulder from the bench he sat on a few feet from her. Where his hand had touched her, she felt tingles like lightening bolts cut through her body, followed by a spreading warmth, not unlike the feeling one gets while Fire-Bending. She flinched away from his touch, and after looking at her, hand outstretched for only a second, Zuko withdrew his hand. Wren glared at him hard, had declared that she was tired, and was going to bed. _To hell with Zuko, _she thought. She had been so angry she caught herself mid-Earth-Bending stance, about to raise a stone door between her and the two men outside. She was lucky to have caught herself. She passed it off as a weak sort of stretch, and walked all the way inside her cave. She huddled near the drawings in her bedroom, leaning against the wall.

She had only seen other people her age on the few occasions she and Shiro would go into town, for medical reasons or something other. She had never seen a boy who intrigued her so much as Zuko did…she had shook her head violently at the thought. The only feeling she should harbor toward Zuko is bloodlust.

Wren wretched herself back to the present. The men still weren't back. This irked her. Was she supposed to stay up and wait for them? Could she simply go to sleep? Were they expecting help with their haul? And although she got the feeling that neither one of these men were, despite being Fire-Nation _royalty_ for Spirits' sake, inherently bad people. However, Wren still didn't want to fall asleep first. Shiro had taught her about the mechanics of being a woman - she still relished the thought of his discomfort - and she knew that she was indeed, a very beautiful Avatar.

From the few times Wren had actually seen her reflection, she remembered being shocked that no matter what her personality or her raw magnitude of power might suggest, she still looked like a_ girl_. Her long black hair was always shiny, and hung to the middle of her back. She wore simply cut robes – just a sleeveless tunic that went down to her ankles with a dark green belt that had different leather bags attached to it. The tunic itself was a paler green, as were her arm-guards and moccasins. Her eyes were blue, but they were the same kind of pale as her outfit, so it went together. She'd seen Zuko looking at her from the corner of her eye; she knew he was wondering about her Earth-Kingdom attire. She wished she had thought to get red cloth last time they had been in town.

Again, Wren wretched herself back to reality. _They should be back by now_. She thought, more because she was tired of waiting than she was worried. The moon reached its highest point in the night sky, and Wren decided that sleep was just too good to resist. She fell onto her bed, and fell asleep.

The sun was irritatingly bright. It never shown in her cave; why was it in her eyes now? Wren jolted to consciousness, and promptly realized that she was _not_ in her cave. She looked around, gratefully recognizing her position. She was about a mile away from home, in a small grove of apricot-pear trees not too far from a meadow where deer-gazelles liked to graze. She leapt up with a manner of violence, but then somebody grabbed her around the collar-bone area, and yanked her back to the ground again. She tried to her feet again, but found that she was suddenly being held down by a figure larger than she was. She was about to spear the figure with an earth-javelin when she recognized that it was Zuko. She let out a hiss of anger. Now that she knew who was touching her, a slow heat began to spread over her, starting at where his hands were firmly pressed against her shoulders, where his forehead resting on her temple. She didn't like that at all because she liked it too much. She had to _kill_ this person, she couldn't start to like him _now!_

"Shh! Do you want me to be killed?!" he whispered in her ear. She glared at his ear, which was the only part of him she could see besides his hair.

"_What happened?!_" she hissed at him. Zuko sighed.

"I'm sorry, Uncle and I should never had asked to stay at your camp, but this is what you get for helping us out, I guess. A Fire Nation raid" he continued to whisper at her.

"_A FIRE NATION RAID?!"_ she said at normal volume. Here in the grove, it sounded like yelling. He clamped a hand over her mouth. He had to himself up on his knees to get the leverage to put his hand on her mouth, and one knee just so happened to be placed between her thighs. Wren felt her face heat up intensely. He was so _close_ to her. He didn't even seem to notice.

"What do you expect, keeping the traitor prince and his jail-escapee uncle at your house?! A tea party?!"

"You're a _traitor?_ I thought you were just banished" Wren said in an astonished voice, sounding a bit muffled by his hand, which he removed at once. She hadn't even bothered to inject venom into her voice, as she had with every other sentence she had uttered to him.

"You really _have _been out of the loop, haven't you?" he said teasingly.

"Zuko. I live, _literally_, under a rock. Give me a little credit. I at least knew who you were" she joked back. He laughed lightly.

"I hope you don't mind, but I kind of carried you here…all your things are back at your cave"

"Where's Moose?" Wren asked frantically, trying to look around Zuko's longish hair. A gentle purring came from behind her. She reached up and scratched his chin.

"Who's my good boy?" she murmured to Moose.

"Well, I wouldn't go _that_ far, but yeah, I think I did an okay job of getting you to safety" Zuko said.

"_Zuko!"_ Wren said, pushing him off of her and laughing. He landed in a relaxed sitting position, his fingers a mere centimeter from hers. This both irritated her and was a great relief. She _did_ have an illicit crush on the boy, but traitor or no traitor, he was the _Prince of the Fire Nation_. What's written in blood can't be erased.

Wren looked around, looking for a distraction.

"Where's Iroh?" she asked nonchalantly. She assumed he was gathering berries or tea leaves or _something. _She'd only spent three days with him and already she was used to his style and habits. She noticed, however, that Zuko wasn't looking around the grove as she was.

"We were…separated" he said resignedly.

"While hunting?"

"Yeah. Azula and Mai's team caught up with us mid-way through the afternoon. We spent until dark running and fighting. They drove us apart. Mai after me, Azula after Uncle. By the time I slipped away from Mai, I was already a good half-mile from where I left Uncle. I should have gone back for him – I shouldn't have kept running. But…I did"

"Why?" I asked.

"You were still at the camp, it took me all night for me to find my way back. What if they sent you to a prison camp just for aiding us? You, who didn't even know we were guilty of anything, being punished under the wrath of Azula for crimes _I_ had committed…it would have been worse to go to Uncle, who can hold his own I might add, and leave you helpless. They were on the horizon when Moose and I set off, but I think we lost them for now – we went by the river so our scents would be lost"

"I am many things, _Prince_ Zuko, but I am not _helpless_" Wren said irately as she got up and took a better look around. He groaned.

"That's not what I _meant_" he said in a miserable voice, but Wren wasn't listening. She was trying to think of who Mai was. She knew of Princess Azula, but not of this _Mai._

"Who is Mai?" she asked shortly.

There was a silence. She looked down at Zuko, who was still sitting on the grass. His mouth was a tight line, looking away – he wasn't going to tell her anything. This became more and more apparent as the silence stretched on. Wren had had enough of playing along to this game without having read this instructions. She wanted some answers already!

"Look, Zuko. I did a good thing, letting you two get back on your feet like that. I didn't have to let you into my home _after_ you ere so egregiously _barged in_. And I am now being punished for it. The least you could freaking do is let me know _who the hell_ is chasing me. You are in _no_ position to hold back on me now. I'm _homeless_ because of you! I have no _possessions_ because of you! Azula and this _Mai_ are probably sitting pretty in my _bedroom_ right now, and it's all because _of you_. So cough it up. Tell me everything, because apparently, _I'm out of the loop_"

Zuko looked up at her. He sighed. And then, he finally began to talk.

"Mai is – my ex-girlfriend. She's also good friends with my sister, who I think you already know of. It didn't really work out between us because she's completely loyal to the Fire Nation and all of its endeavors and I am…not. Plus she's completely _mental_. She's really bitter about the whole break-up. She could have been Queen of the Fire Nation, you know? You will probably hate me and try to bring Azula and Mai here when I tell you this, and know that I _will_ fight you, girl or not, but I left the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun to join up with the Avatar and his friends. I haven't found him yet, but I know I will"

Wren sank, nonplussed, to her knees. She could tell from her Earth-Bending that every word was truth. She shook her head, mystified. She was half-way aware that her mouth was hanging open, but she didn't bother with it. _Prince Zuko_, tasked with killing or capturing the Avatar, teaming up with her instead? Boy would he be surprised that she fooled him this whole time!

But what if this was all a trap? She dismissed this; every word he had just spoken was truth. He was looking at her warily, hands at the ready as if to defend himself or attack her, like he wasn't sure which yet. She decided that this would be a more-than-even fight, even if it _was_ a trap. She and Moose on one boy, three elements on one? You couldn't get better odds than that.

"The Avatar isn't a boy" she said quietly.

"Yes he is, I've met him" Zuko said, now just as confused as she was.

"No, he's _not_" she argued.

"How would _you_ know? You said yourself you've been living under a rock"

"You idiot! I _am_ the Avatar!" she scolded.

Zuko, instead of gawking stupidly at her, or saying something, or anything she might have expected, started laughing and rolling around on the ground.

"What?!" she asked him over his laughing.

"That was a good one!" he hooted.

"No, really! I am!"

"No, really, you're not. There already _is_ an Avatar. His name is Aang. He was frozen in

ice for a hundred years and now travels with his gaggle of friends, Sokka, Katara, Toph and a few others I haven't quite met yet. I plan on joining them in the fight against my father"

"That's not possible, he'd have to be an air-bender"

"Is so, and he is. I've met him, he's got the arrow tattoos and everything"

"There can't be more than one Avatar"

"I know!" Zuko said as he started chuckling again.

"So if there can't be more than one Avatar, and you've already met this supposed Air-Bender, how can I do _this_?" Wren asked Zuko.

She held out her hands and made a torch out of one and levitated a mound of Earth with the other. Now Zuko's mouth fell open.

"And I've mastered water, too. It was my native element. Oh, and my father died fighting _against_ you, and his name was Azul. There. Now everything I have is on the table. I'm an Avatar, and apparently so is this Aang kid. Are you sure he's not just some remnant of the Air-Benders?"

"No, I've seen him bend just about everything except for fire"

"Well, isn't this a pickle?"

But Zuko wasn't looking at her anymore. He wasn't paying attention – his gaze was centered above her right shoulder, off into the distance. She glanced, but there was nothing. He was just contemplating, she supposed. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Moose cock his ear to the East, and then raise his haunches and start growling in a low tenor. Wren just realized they hadn't been bothering to keep their voices low. She tugged on Zuko's silk tunic.

"Curious as this may be, we need to move. Now. If they haven't found us yet, then I think they might be about to". This pulled Zuko out of his reverie, and they immediately got up and began running flat-out West. Wren managed to pull herself up on Moose without stopping – a move she had mastered through years of hard work. Leopard-bears are large animals, and Moose was even bigger than most because he had a meal three times a day – something you couldn't guarantee in the wild. Once she had found her usual spot with her knees crooked just behind Moose's shoulder-blades, Wren reached out and grabbed Zuko's arm and succeeded in pulling him half-way up on Moose. He scrambled up the rest of the way, and managed to cling to Wren for dear life.

On Moose, they traveled about eight times faster than a normal human would. Wren knew this area like she knew the back of her hand, and she knew where she was going. She was going into town. She and Zuko were going to find Aang.


	3. Travel

A/N Sorry that the last one was kind of long ^^'' hopefully this chapter will be as well. :D Enjoy!

Wren woke up, a bit in a daze. She didn't open her eyes, despite the sunlight that shone on her eyelids, making everything a lively red-orange. Lately, her life was nothing short of completely upside-down, ass-backward, and frighteningly abnormal. Her mornings reflected this the best. Under normal circumstances, she would have been up before dawn bending water in the river close to her and Shiro's home. After her morning exercise, she would gather fruit or nuts or anything she could find along the pathway home for breakfast, and she was to be back precisely when the sun painted the horizon yellow. Shiro would have some meat already cooked, and they would eat breakfast. After checking around the campsite for anything out of place or any food they were out of, they began training. Usually they began with Earth, and it was to the point where Wren could have her Master pinned about eighty percent of the time. After a rigorous morning and some lunch, Fire-Bending would begin.

This was never very precise, seeing as their only guide was an ancient book about Fire-Bending Shiro had happened to come across in a shop on a boat run by people who Wren suspected were pirates. But that didn't matter to her; she had a book of Fire-Bending moves thanks to them. The moves weren't by any means basic, so it was left to Wren to figure out how to pull Fire from her body using solely energy and breath. Shiro had been impatient with her about it - but Wren had eventually gotten the hang of it. After mastering the grand majority of the moves in the book, she and Shiro started making up some of their own moves based on stances and moves from the Earth and Water cultures. Once, on complete accident, Wren had ejected Lightening instead of Fire when she tried to bend. After months of trying, Wren had eventually learned to do this whenever she pleased. Wait until the Fire Nation saw THAT.

However, since Shiro had died, and she had run from her home out of necessity with Zuko, the traitor Prince of the Fire Nation, her life had not been at all normal. She was falling asleep later and later as the days wore on. Last night, she hadn't actually been tired until the moon was in the middle of the sky - officially the latest she had ever stayed up. She and Zuko would talk for hours. He was teaching her about the world, what it was like, the Hundred-Year War, and about Aang. He usually had the floor, unless Wren slid in a question between breaths. They hardly ever talked about either of their pasts. Maybe it was too difficult for Zuko to talk about, but for Wren, there simply wasn't much to tell.

After losing her Father to the war and realizing that she was the Avatar, her mother decided that Wren would be safest behind the walls of Ba Sing Se. Apparently as a child, Wren had had an affinity for Earth-Bending the dirt beneath the feet upon feet upon feet of snow at the North Pole where she was born, causing small earthquakes in small areas. This story was one her mother had told Shiro outside of the walls, and the only one Shiro had related back to her. Her mother, Kada, had been seeking any Earth-Bender to teach her child Earth-Bending. Shiro, who was outside of the walls for unknown reasons (he had never told her), accepted after running headlong into the two of them bending. They were then brought into Ba Sing Se to live. About a month after Wren turned five, Wren had awoken to find her mother was missing. She was literally nowhere. She ran to Shiro's home, a mere two blocks away, and he promptly took her away. His explanation was short, saying something about a man called Long Pheng, something called a Dai Lee and disgusting traitors. The next thing she knew she was in the wilderness, eating berries and training the Leopard-Bear pup that Shiro had caught for her, with no answers to pacify her.

Wren needed to open her eyes. Her and Zuko's camp was small; there had apparently been a terrible storm in this area because trees were uprooted and had conveniently created a cave-like space where she and Zuko had set up for the night. Moose had lain in the way of the only space big enough for a human to crawl through, effectively creating a nice door that would bite back if tampered with. However, small and protected as it was, there was still the possibility that they had been found. They hadn't seen or heard a trace of evidence that they were being followed by Azula and Mai, but they also didn't want to stick around long enough to see. Wren wrenched her eyes open. The sunlight was creeping in through the several layers of branches, and all seemed to be alright. The birds and small critters of the forest were twittering and upon looking around at the camp, nothing had been tampered with.

Wren saw Zuko curled up in a ball in the center of the space. She felt a pang of pity and guilt. She had been sleeping next to Moose, sharing his body heat and usually using a paw as a pillow. And Zuko had been up before her every other morning, so she hadn't seen that this was how he slept. She made a mental note to let him use Moose's paw next time they slept.

They'd been on the move for four days, moving West. There was a LOT to the West of Ba Sing Se. The previous day, they had finally gotten out of the mountain range and past the Great River that seperated Ba Sing Se and its outskirts from the rest of the Earth Kingdom, as well as the Fire Nation. When Wren had told Zuko that the Air-Benders' Northern Air Temple was up on top of one of those mountains, he responded with a sigh. He said simply that he'd always wanted to see an Air-Bending Temple. He'd heard that they were magnificent.

Neither one knew where specifically they were going, but Zuko had said that he and his Uncle had seen the Avatar and his gang of friends head North out of the Fire Nation capital, therefore making him think that the Avatar was in the West, somewhere. The only reason they had gone to Ba Sing Se in the first place was so that his Uncle could confer the events and things to the White Lotus, another concept Zuko had to explain to her. So, severely behind schedule, the two were running as fast as Moose could go to the Western tip of the Earth Kingdom. It seemed like their best bet.

Wren woke Zuko up, and after a bit of hunting, they were off again. They simply followed the setting sun. On Moose, there was no talking. The wind was too loud to allow for anything except for the occasional "We're going too far North!". Maybe he hadn't been in the best shape when they set off because Moose never had to really run for his meals or for his life. But after just a few days, Wren could tell he was faster than he had ever been before. They were covering more ground in less time. They seemed to have a very good chance of getting to the Western tip of the continent in a week. The day flew by, almost literally. Before they knew it, Wren and Zuko were in a small Earth Kingdom villiage, and night was upon them.

"What do you think, Zuko? Set up just outside of town?" Wren asked.

"No, we can get a room at an inn. I'm tired of sleeping on the ground"

"Sorry about that. If I'd known - " Wren started, but Zuko cut her off, but not in an unkind way.

"I know you didn't know. But I wasn't about to let you sleep on the ground and take all the warmth and comfort to myself. And you probably would feel uncomfortable sleeping right next to me"

Wren froze, thinking about sleeping next to Zuko. She couldn't deny that the idea didn't sound half-bad, but she couldn't possibly...no. Sleeping next to him was out of the question. Wren suddenly remembered JUST how close he was to her, sitting behind her on Moose. The first day it had been a little uncomfortable and nerve-wracking, having Zuko hold her around the waist and to his chest. Even if it was completely impersonal, it hadn't felt that way. Half-way into the second day, she got over herself, concentrating more on their direction than wondering if his hands would wander. They didn't. But suddenly, all of those feelings came rushing back to her. His hands on her hip and stomach, his warm breath on her neck and collarbone, his chin resting in the crook of her shoulder-blade, his thighs pressing against hers...her face flooded with blood. Luckily he couldn't see her face - she would have DIED.

"Relax, Wren, I was only joking" he said lightly and a little breathlessly. He seemed to have realized how close they were at the same time, because he backed up a little. There wasn't a lot of space to back up to, but he managed it to where he wasn't leaning his head or legs on her anymore. She wasn't sure if she liked that.

"An inn sounds fine" she said, regaining control of speech. She steered Moose by his fur towards the town, and tried to put the conversation and new nervousness behind her. Moose galloped into town, and people stared open-mouthed. Some started to back away in fright. Wren realized that Moose's brethren usually saw humans as unually tasty morsels. She tried to shrug that thought off, as well. She and Zuko arrived at the inn, and Wren went alone to tie Moose up to the back of the stables, where the Horse-birds squaked with agitation. Wren Earth-Bended a stone pen around Moose, and etched into the front Moose's name, his owner, and that he was a pet. It's best to be on the safe side...she patted his muzzle and stode to the front of the inn where Zuko was waiting for her.

They walked into the inn to find that it also doubled as the town's pub. It was rambunctious and loud. Zuko, without seeming to think about it, grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. She objected at the gesture, but wasn't about to complain; Zuko was still holding her hand. The warm tingles started working their way like spiders up her arm. They went to the counter and tried to capture the bartenders' attention. It wasn't easy, but eventually Wren's snapping fingers managed to do the job.

"Wha can I do fer yeh folks?" he asked, his voice deep in dialect.

"We'd like a room, if you have one, please" Zuko said.

"Yeh two're married, are't'cha?" the bartender asked. Wren opened her mouth to say 'Hell no', but Zuko beat her to it.

"Yes sir, newlyweds!" he said in a triumphant voice. Wren wanted to hit him.

"Then I cert'nly do" the barkeep said jovially. He handed over a key just as Zuko handed out a gold coin. Wren just realized that you needed money to buy a room. She felt a pang of guilt again, letting Zuko use his money like this.

"Yeh two don't look lack yeh're frem round here"

"We're not" Wren said, not thinking about it. The area around them went a little quiet.

"We're from Ba Sing Se" Zuko said carefully, shooting a glance at Wren for her slip-up. Wren bit her lip.

"Whare'd yeh git that scar frem?" the barkeep asked, a little too forcefully for Wren's liking.

"He was in the war" she said in a cold, short voice, letting her fist hit the counter almost nonchalantly. Where her fist hit, it left a deep indent from where she bended the stone countertop. The bartender looked at the dent, and then at Wren, and the at Zuko's scar.

"My 'pologies, ma'am" he murmured, and went back to his work, and the buzz of the inn started up again. Zuko pulled at her hand, and then they were off, up a stairway to where the rooms were.

"Just brilliant. Just BRILLIANT. No wonder he asked if we were married! Did you HAVE to say we were newlyweds?!" Wren asked Zuko shrilly. The room was small, and contained only one bed. There was just enough space between the door and the bed for one person to sprawl out, and it looked horribly uncomfortable. Wren sure as hell wasn't going to sleep there, and she had already told herself that she couldn't let Zuko take the fall for uncomfortable sleeping anymore. She fumed inside, mostly because she was gleeful in the fact that there was no way out of this. The bed was big enough for three, so they could sleep with a little distance between them, but still. They were sleeping in the same bed. This pissed Wren off because she liked it. Zuko wasn't even objecting.

"This side's mine" he called, as he plopped down on the left side. Wren shrugged. She didn't much care which side she had.

"I'm going back downstairs" Wren said, turning to go. She heard Zuko land lightly to his feet as she finished the sentence.

"Why are we going back downstairs again?" he corrected her.

"I can go myself, and I want a drink. I've never had anything but fruit juices and water. I want to see what mead tastes like. Maybe milk some information out of the villiagers. Who knows? Maybe they know where Aang is staying" she explained as they went down the stairs to the pub.

"Good idea" Zuko murmured.

Twenty minutes, two sips of ale and a new glass of fruit juice later, Wren was sitting at the bar, completely frustrated. Nobody seemed to want to make conversation with them. She had asked the barkeep about the Aang (it felt too weird to say THE Avatar, seeing as she had always thought it was her), but he was still too embarrassed that he had asked about Zuko's scar. Wren sighed, and then got up to leave. She and Zuko were almost to the doorway, when she overheard two travelers at their table say the word 'Avatar'. She stopped dead, as did Zuko, but then Zuko ducked behind the stairway once he saw who was talking.


	4. Useful Information

A/N Thank you SO much for commenting! It made me really happy, all of it. ^^ And I want to apologize for any misspelled words you may find - I'm only using NotePad, which doesn't have Spell-Check, so I'm just checking as I go along. It's been brought to my attention (again, thank you) that I've been 'Mary-Sue-ing' a bit, but please know that I'm trying to correct that, even if I'm not entirely sure how =]

Wren tried to get a good look at who was talking, but Zuko pulled her toward him, behind the stairway.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, confused.  
"They're with the Avatar. I saw them depart with Aang - I can't be sure if they know what I look like or not, but if I'm recognized it could be the end of our cover. I wonder why they aren't with Aang...that's strange..."

"Well, I'm pretty sure they won't know me, so what about I go see what I can get out of them?"

"It could be dangerous..."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, Zuko. What are the odds that they just so happened to be at the same inn as us, talking about the Avatar when we just so happened to be within earshot? Come on, this is just too good to pass up"

He let go of the arm he'd been latched onto. She reached around to pat his for comfort. She then walked around the partition, hopefully projecting confidence and trustworthiness. She arrived at the table, and the two men stopped talking, and looked up at her suspiciously. One must have been the size of a tree stump while the other was as tall as Wren, and he was still sitting down. He must have been seven feet tall. Wren made herself open her mouth and start talking.

"Hello. My name is Wren, and I heard you were talking about the Avatar" she said as she slid into the booth beside the behemoth of a man and the small child he was speaking with.

"What's it to you?" the tiny person asked.

"I'm sympathetic to the Avatar's endeavors, and I've been traveling a great while to meet this boy in person" she explained, her speech a little stunted for the need of coming up with half-lies and exaggerations. She prayed that none of them were Earth-Benders. The two men were staring at her as if she'd just spoken Hog-monkey to them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I want to help Aang" she said shortly. The large man then broke out in a chorus of 'ah's and 'right's, pointing both at her and to the smaller boy. Again, Wren felt the urge to roll her eyes.

"My name's Pipsqueak, and this here's The Duke. We're good friends with Aang, alright, in fact we just left where they all were - hey!"

The small child, or rather, The Duke, had thrown a spoon at Pipsqueak and it hit dead on. The Duke raised his eyebrows at Pipsqueak and nodded conspicuously at me. He was clearly asking what the hell he was doing, about to tell the Air-Bender's secrets to a complete stranger. Wren had to admit that if would have made her nervous to have him as her ally, if he just blabbed like that.

"No worries, um, The Duke, is it? I'm a Water-Bender. No way I'm Fire Nation"

"Prove it" was all he said. So she did. She bended Pipsqueaks' mead out of his flagon and made it twirl around his head before putting it back into the glass, not a drop spilled. The Duke nodded.

"So, Wren, is it? What exactly do you want to do with The Avatar? He's already got a Water-Bending Master"

"Ah, well, any extra hands would help, I guess, that and, I uh, know some stuff about the Fire Lord?" she lied. This lie hadn't come as easily as the last one, but The Duke, looking a bit dubious, said, "Go on..."

"I'm sorry, but I can't just go bandying it about...you understand, right?"

The Duke nodded, peering at her from the corner of his young eye. For a child, he seemed exceedly smarter than his larger companion. Had just the man been there, she would have probably had exact coordinates and directions to where Aang was shacking up by now. But as it were, she would have to worm them out of this tiny little person. She decided to just ask, point-blank, the one question that needed to be asked.

"Can you tell me where Aang is staying?" she asked The Duke, looking him directly in the eyes.

"Yes. I can" was all he said. Wren took a deep breath, agitation nearly winning out over patience. She raised her eyebrows and nodded, signaling him to continue.

"I'm sorry, but I can't just go bandying that kind of information about...you understand, right?"

Wren groaned audibly.

"It's severely important that I find out where Aang is staying! This could determine the entire outcome of the war against the Fire Nation!" she burst out with. The people around them grew quiet again. Not silent, really, just quieter. It was easy to tell that they were all listening in now. Wren's face flushed. Had Shiro been here, she would have been assaulted with stones for her outburst. Such behavior was not acceptable. The Duke looked around pointedly, as if trying to convey a message, and said simply,

"We can't tell you that"

At this, Wren had had enough of trying to force information out of these two. Maybe if she could just get the big oaf alone...? She wasn't about to cross that idea out. She sighed, and walked away from the table and straight up the stairs, without checking to see if Zuko was still there or not. He'd come in shortly after her outburst at the table, and asked to know - calm as a shrimp-clam - what exactly had happened. When she explained her mistakes to Zuko, he didn't judge her or scold her like she thought he would. He nodded, and said simply that they had to come from somewhere. Maybe somebody else knew which direction they had come in from. After all, according to the giant, they had just left Aang, so following them might not be in any way useful.

Never having slept beside anybody, except perhaps her mother at some point, Wren couldn't honestly say if this was typical or not. It was very nearly pitch black, the only small amount of light coming from the stars above through the tiny window above their heads. Zuko was dead asleep. In any case, it was good that he was because Wren didn't know if she could stand it if they were BOTH awake and staring at the ceiling. Alone. In a bed. In the dark. The thought made her shiver, half from nervousness, half from not knowing where that would lead, if it would lead anywhere in the first place. She longed to spread out. Zuko seemed content to sleep on his stomach, his arms stretched up toward the headboard. He didn't require too much space, it seemed. Wren, however, knew how much she needed, and she didn't want to be the one to push Zuko off the bed in the middle of the night, which was why she kept to her tight little ball. It was never embarrassing for her before, seeing as she never had a reason to be, but she was a thrasher, a tosser, and a turner in her sleep. She never could stay still for long, and never really thought about it. So she'd woken up in a complete different corner of her cave than the one she'd originated in? So what? It was her cave. She'd never thought anything about it. Until now. She thought she'd never stop obsessing over it until a gentle knock sounded on her door. She froze, and then looked over at Zuko. He was still fast asleep. Wren gently crept out of bed, and readied herself for an attack, just in case. She opened the door, and there was...The Duke.

"Duke?' she asked, not sleepy at all.

"THE Duke" he corrected. He said nothing else.

"...Yes?" she asked, uncertainly.

"The...the Avatar is staying at the Western Air Temple, just twelve day's journey from here. I've sent a hawk, telling him of a Water Bender's arrival" he said shortly. Then, he turned to leave.

"Wait!" she called out in a hushed tone. She was stunned at this information, especially seeing as it was all true. There was no evidence of a lie in this boys' short statement.

"Why are you telling me this, The Duke? I thought you thought I was some sort of enemy" she asked.

"At first, I did. But your reaction to rejection - you never came to our room - was what got us. If you really were against Aang, you would have probably just come for us later for information. But you didn't." he said, as he turned to leave again.

"Why did you leave Aang?" she asked. Without turning, The Duke said, "Fighting Ozai isn't our fight. And frankly, it isn't our job. We've lost too much to the Fire Nation without giving up our lives as well. We've simply...had enough."

And then he was gone. Wren wandered back into the room, and collapsed on the bed. Throughout the entire conversation with The Duke, he hadn't stirred. As was the case now. She fell, satisfied at least that she had gotten the Avatar's location (although she had no idea where the Western air Temple was), gently and slowly to sleep, trying to ignore the sleeping man on the bed beside her.


	5. Danger

A/N This is getting fun! See, I'm a write-oholic and when I start something, I usually can't stop until it's done. So, this is my second chapter in a night. Fun on a bun! This is kind of a short one, and I tried to focus more on Wren and Zuko, but it might just be one of my favorite chapters yet! Enjoy!

Wren woke up, and realized as she was about to open her eyes, that this was the most comfortable she'd been in a very long time. Of course, this was the first really bed she'd ever slept in. Her bed in the cave with Shiro had been a particularly thick mat. She wasn't complaining, but she definitely preferred this way of waking up. She opened her eyes slowly, and with leisure, and suddenly realized that something was very wrong. She may have never slept on a real bed before, but she was certain that the pillows didn't move. She jerked her head back, and her eyes flew open.

She let out a little gasp of horror. Her right arm was securely tucked underneath Zuko, whereas her left was resting on his (surprisingly muscular!) chest. She'd been using his stomach as a pillow. When she moved her head, Zuko's hand fell out of her hair. Wren's stomach clenched. Praying that whatever Sleep God had kept Zuko deadened last night would still grant her that favor, she balanced herself so that she could maybe try to get her trapped right arm out from under Zuko. How had this happened?!?! She knew she was a thrasher, but this?! This was...dear God. Wren would honestly rather face a raging Platypus-bear than deal with Zuko if he woke up. Not that he would be angry, really, but she would never hear the end of it.

She almost had her arm completely free when Zuko, with a half-grunt half-moan, turned over in his sleep, crushing himself against Wren's chest. Her arm was still trapped, even more so now. Wren squirmed. She could have just easily gotten out of the situation before - just one movement of the arm would have done it! Now, she was truly trapped. She wouldn't have minded so much except for her imagination was running away with Zuko's reaction when he woke up to find himself snuggled up against his 'newlywed wife'. Her stomach curled uncomfortably again.

She sat for a few minutes, trying to decide the best way out of this, until she got a sudden inspiration. She suddenly pushed Zuko over to his side with all the strength she could give without shoving him off the bed entirely. With this, unlike so many other times, Zuko woke up. He groaned and sat up, still sleep-encumbered. He crossed his legs and looked at her with a tired dolefulness.

"What'zat for?" he asked. Wren looked at his face officially for the first time since waking up. His hair was tousled, and the sleep-muddled expression he wore made her want to tackle him back down to cuddle again. She mentally shook herself.

"I woke up, and you were all over me" she answered, lying through her teeth. Zuko jerked awake, and blushed.

"I guess I just turn in my sleep, is all. So, what's on the agenda for today?" he asked, changing the subject with unapologetic haste.

"We're going to the Western Air Temple" she answered. He looked up at her.

"Why?"

"Because while you were asleep, The Duke came to the room and told me that that's where Aang is" she explained.

"Again. Why?"

"I think it was my good looks" Wren joked, getting out of bed and pulling on her tunic and belt over the jade pants and shirt.

"Probably" Zuko agreed. When Wren looked at him incredulously, he turned and pulled on his shirt and shoes with no further comment.

They made a short stop in town to buy some supplies, which after a short argument, Zuko paid for. Wren didn't have any money. They picked up Moose from behind the stable, and were off, headed straight West. Zuko, who knew more topography of the world (especially the West) than Wren did, knew almost exactly where the Temple was. It was on the larger of the islands North of the Fire Nation, so it fit into what Zuko had seen, and apparently it was quite deserted. Fire-Benders had no particular interest in the place because according to Zuko, there was 'nothing but nothing'. Just a mountainous island, no good for anything, even growing crops. 'How the Air-Benders lived, I'll never know', he had said. The Duke's information helped out greatly, because Zuko would have never thought that Aang would choose such a desolate and out-of-the-way place, and Wren wouldn't have even known that it existed.

Whereas The Duke had told them that it was a twelve-day journey, Wren knew they would make it long before then, entirely thanks to Moose. The Duke and Pipsqueak had been on foot, presumably most of the time, so if you cut their journey-time in half then you got six days, less than their previous estimate of a week. They must have gone further than they intended. Which wasn't a bad thing, not at all. When Wren climbed up on Moose and helped Zuko up (he was still a little wary of the huge animal), she couldn't help but look forward to seeing Aang, and as far as she could tell from Zuko's monologues and explanations, at least three other highly talented benders. She'd never sparred with anybody except for Shiro - how could she not be looking forward to it? And then, they were off.

Not much was to be said over the next three days. There was just a lot of running, a lot of silence and wind, and even at night, Zuko was distancing himself a little from her. Ever since the night in the inn, he'd been a bit distant. She wondered why that was. As much as she wanted to know, she didn't want to just go right out an ask, either. If she was just making a mountain out of a mole-mouse hill, she'd regret bringing it up. Only on the fourth day, did something happen.

It was raining badly. So badly that they had a hard time seeing the direction of the sun through the clouds. If it had been any less visible, they would have stopped for fear of losing their way. Wren tried to keep most of the water off of the three of them while Zuko steered Moose with a bit of objection. In any case, traveling at their normal speed wasn't the best course of action to take. As soon as night fell, Zuko started setting up for the night, while Wren tried to keep the drops from pelting them. She'd been doing this for the majority of the day, and she was exhausted. She'd give anything to lower her hands, but Zuko needed to finish setting up and storing all things that needed to remain dry underneath Moose's belly. Zuko, thank the Spirits, moved quickly, and soon after Wren let her arms fall, before nearly collapsing herself. Zuko caught her and propped her against Moose, rain pelting the two of them, each drop like a small punch to the face. Thunder continually rumbled in the distance. He let go of her quickly, and she slumped into sleep.

She awoke later, feeling as if she hadn't slept very long at all. In fact, it was still dark. No rain was hitting her face, but it still pummeled her arms and body, her clothes already so thouroughly soaked-through that she might never be properly dry again. Her eyes started to focus in the dark, only to focus on Zuko's face, alseep above hers. This startled her, because it made no sense. How could Zuko be asleep above her? Then, through the clamminess and the slight cold that the rain had induced, she felt Zuko's hands on her upper arms, keeping her in place. Her upper body was perfectly positioned, but her lower body, she noticed, was sprawled all over the place. She repositioned herself with a nasty squelch. Great, she thought. Mud. Good thing that's just SO easy to get out...

Zuko was leaning against Moose, his upper body curved around Wren's to shade her head from the rain. Water dripped from his hair to her neck, but Wren didn't care. She created a feeble bubble around their heads only, keeping the rain off. Forgetting for once that it would be embarrassing, Wren reached up and poked him in the face repeatedly. On the sixth poke or so, Zuko stirred, and opened his eyes. A huge peal of lightening and thunder made him open his eyes wider. For a moment, they focused, and then they met Wren's searching ones.

"Evening, Zuko" Wren greeted him calmly. Zuko's face went red. He didn't speak.

"You're awake" he said, unwilling to believe it, almost.

"My, you're observant. May I ask why I'm cradled in your lap?"

"Well, you kept the rain off of me all day...and I figured I could, well you know, return the favor" he said, his voice stilted with embarrassment. His expression leaped from humiliated to confused when Wren smiled. Thunder rumbled in the distance again.

"That was very noble, Prince Zuko" it was ridiculous that she be so touched over this little bit of consideration from him. She hadn't expected him to do this at all. It was so silly a gesture - a Fire-Bender trying to keep the rain off of a Water-Bender. But that's what made it so insanely sweet, even if he was just returning a favor. Wren sat up, still tired, and something caught her eye. She went to go check on it - a rucksack, it turned out - was laying just a few yards away from where the two of them had been sleeping. It was Zuko's, and just a glance told her it was clothes. She looked over at Zuko, whose eyes were closed again.

She picked it up, about to hand it to Zuko to put under Moose, when a huge sound came from nowhere and everywhere at once. She could have swore the ground shook, but she knew that was just her imagination - or did she? Nothing was certain, but eveything hurt. Her arm, still holding the rucksack, jerked up around her face. She saw the metal clasp on the bag glowing red-hot, yellow lightening touching it. But had she really seen it? Was she really hearing Zuko shouting in the distance? Was it her? Was it both of them? Was she really surrounded by mud and water? Was there really this much pain? Nothing was certain. Everything was black.


	6. Awakening

A/N I'm sorry, I wish I could have left you on somewhat of a cliffhanger…hey, curiosity can be good sometimes ^^ But fortunately for you guys, I can't keep myself away from the keyboard…hope this chapter is up to par! Enjoy!

Zuko's voice was loud in the distance. A far, far, far distance, somewhere she couldn't quite place. It died out eventually, and oblivion slowly overtook her. She came back, for how long she'd been 'gone' she couldn't say, and she heard nothing but the faint howl of wind, and felt an odd shaking sensation. She was coherent just enough to know that this was strange. Then, unconsciousness took her again.

Light hit Wren's eyes powerfully. She was awake, but as usual these days, she just lay there with her eyes closed, exploring her situation with her other senses. She couldn't remember anything after she had gotten up to find out what that object was. _What was it again?_ She asked herself. She honestly couldn't remember. Somehow she could feel that time had elapsed since then. What day was it? What time was it? Where was Zuko? She opened her eyes, and gasped wildly. Whatever sight she might have been expecting, this was _not_ it.

Wren's heart was beating like a rabbit-foxes'. She was on the side of a _cliff._ What had Zuko thought, putting down camp here? Was there ever a _dumber_ idea? _One more roll_ and she would have been done for – she couldn't bend air. She sat up carefully, and turned around, away from the cliff. She then saw what could only be described in one word. _Marvelous._ There was a building, extending down from what looked like the ceiling, except that she was outside. You certainly couldn't see the bottom of the cliff. Wren wondered briefly if she had gone crazy. She spotted a mat and pillows, about twenty feet away, a safe distance from the edge of the platform she was on. Her mouth turned down into a sort of grimace. _Of course,_ she thought. She wondered if there was a way to break the habit of tossing so much. She got up, and winced. She sat back down.

She looked at her body and realized she was only in her tunic. She blushed, and looked around. She was quite alone. Not that it mattered too much, but wearing the tunic alone revealed skin all the way up to her hip. Her skin, so exposed, caught her attention. On her legs were angry red marks in some places and bandages in others, and the same went for her arms, on her left more so than her right. She pulled the neck of her tunic out, and looked at her torso. There weren't as many burns there, for which she was thankful. Most of the burns were mostly healed, bus she didn't even want to look at the ones underneath the bandages. It then struck her that somebody had had to undress her to treat these, and she was only traveling with one person. She flushed. Her under-shirt was gone, as were her pants. She knew that this had probably been necessary to treat the burns, and check her out for more (how had she gotten them again?), but it was still so _embarrassing._ Zuko had seen her _naked_.

She looked around for her clothes. There was no use in sitting here, waiting for him to come back. She spotted them next to her bed, and hobbled to put them on. The shirt wasn't too difficult to put on, but the pants were a different story. The burns on her lower legs made it torturous to pull the pants past even her knees. She whimpered as she pulled them off, and folded them next to the mat. She pulled the tunic on, and was off to explore this upside-down paradise.

There honestly wasn't much around. She couldn't move to many of the other structures because they simply didn't have any way to get across to them. For the life of her, she couldn't figure that out. How maddening. As it turned out, she'd been on the very top tier of this structure. She found a very narrow, rickety stair-case and made her way down to the bottom-most tier, and was amazed that the staircase hardly ended. The bottom stair was met with a platform that was about two feet by two feet, with no railing of any kind. He wondered wildly how this was supposed to be used. She crept back upstairs where she felt safer. She had almost rounded the corner to get to her mat, but for the voices. They seemed to be arguing, but not angrily. She froze. Who was it? She peered around the corner. What she saw almost made her heart stop.

There was a boy and a girl, both a bit younger than she was, and they were looking around for what she assumed was her. The girl was in blue and clearly worried, letting her gaze wander to the cliff-side every few seconds. But she wasn't what drew Wren's attention. It was the boy. He wore monk's robes, and he had blue tattoos in the shape of arrows down his limbs. In his hand, he held a staff. This was, without at doubt, an Air-Bender. He proved this by opening his glider, and sailing off to the next upside-down building over, to where a few other people were waiting by the edge. The girl in blue sat down with exaggerated impatience. Wren's mind exploded with questions.

How was she already at the Western Air Temple? Last she checked, they still had two days to go, at least. On top of that, where was Zuko? He wasn't among the small group of people on the other building's edge; where was he? Shouldn't he have stayed with her? She knew she would have stayed with him…but that might indicate a difference in feelings rather than a betrayal. This plucked at Wren's heartstrings. _Well, _she figured, _only one way to find out._ She tottered out to meet the girl in the blue.

"Looking for me?" Wren asked, about twenty feet away. She had to leave room, just in case the girl was hostile, not that she was in much a state to fight. The girl looked around in surprise. Upon seeing Wren, she turned and yelled,

"Aang! She's here!" The Air-bender, Aang, turned along with the people he was talking with and smiled hugely. He snapped open his glider, and sailed over.

"So, you're the Water-bender who The Duke sent?"

"Well, he didn't _send_ me; I was already looking for you"

"Hi! I'm Aang, and I'm –"

"That Avatar, I know. I've heard a lot about you, Aang"

"Well, I haven't heard anything about you…what's your name?"

"Wren of the Northern Water Tribe"

"The Northern Water Tribe? We don't remember seeing you there…" Katara stated, looking a bit suspicious.

"I didn't grow up there, I was just born there. I grew up in the forest around Ba Sing Se, being trained by my Master"

"Why Ba Sing Se? That's no place for a Water-Bender to train" Katara shot at her. And without seeming to help herself, Wren shot back,

"We weren't really training with water"

"Then what were you training with?" Aang asked, interested. He didn't seem suspicious like Katara did. Wren opened her mouth to say 'everything else', but stopped herself. She had to remember that they wouldn't believe she was the Avatar. She sighed.

"Aang…you're…not as alone as you'd think" Wren said slowly. She had to get this out of the way, and quickly. No sneaking around like she had with Zuko.

"Of course I'm not alone" he replied cheerily.

'No, I mean…urhg. I can't explain it without sounding crazy" she tried to explain.

"Then sound crazy, then explain" Katara said, clearly suspicious now.

"I'm an Avatar, Aang"

"No, you're not" Katara said immediately, "Aang is the Avatar"

"Well, somehow I am, too" Wren replied shortly. Katara just scoffed.

"Show me" demanded Aang. His face was impassive, blank.

Wren turned around and walked ten paces away. She started off a Fire-Bending move, which turned out to not be the best idea. Katara shouted "FIRE-BENDER!", and then proceeded to start to attack. Wren didn't notice the water-whip until it knocked her clean off of her feet. She fell, and flipped into a crouching position with much pain in her legs. She took control of the water from Katara, and then water-whipped _her_ off of her feet. She turned just in time to dodge a large rock thrown at her from the other building. She took it after it landed, and sent it flying over the deep gorge that she had woken up next to.

"See, Aang, I'm an Avatar, too"


	7. Explanations

A/N :] Chapter Sevennnnn! Ah, the plot finally starts to make it's appearance. ^^ I hope this chapter is as great as my others have been. Enjoy!

After Wren had made the proclamation, and then proven it, it seemed generally accepted by the group. She was glad for this. The main questions on everybody's minds were 'why' and 'how'. And nobody could explain it. Nobody knew why Wren existed. Wren, on the other hand, didn't know why Aang existed. She thought she had been there first; now that she knew that the other Avatar was real, she WANTED to be the first, the only. But it turned out this kid was the first. He was frozen in an iceberg for the past century! She, on the other hand, was just...Wren. She couldn't explain her existence. It was dizzying to find out that your whole life, your whole existence, was probably a mistake.

There was a lot of discussing and arguing back and forth between Aang, Katara, and now she knew Toph, Sokka, Haru and Teo. Haru and Teo, however, mostly sat down and watched the brainstorm progress. Wren would intermittently put in her thoughts, but those times were few and far between. Aang eventually decided that, in all of his I'm-the-Avatar-therefore-the-leader-kinda glory, that he and Wren were to go into the Spirit World to ask Roku, the previous Avatar's, opinion on the matter. Wren stared at him blankly.

"And just do I do that?" she asked, mystified.

"It's a power of the Avatar's. We are the link between the two worlds, so it only makes sense that we can visit both. Don't worry, Wren. It's actually kind of fun" Aang explained, hardly masking his incredulity that she hadn't heard of this. It was now that she cursed Shiro. Along with simplicity, he believed that everything should be taught in it's own good time. He had never mentioned that Spirit-World visitation abilities. Aang offered his hand to her, which she took hesitantly. She glanced at the group, who were eyeing her with a sort of curious reverence, keeping their distance, except for Katara, who was concentrating on not looking at her at all. She didn't blame any of them. She was the anomaly here.

She and Aang went to the corner of the room, and he sat down and closed his eyes. Everybody suddenly went silent, watching him intently, Toph excepted, of course. Wren closed her eyes. She concentrated on getting to the Spirit World. Nothing was happening. For about five minutes, nothing. She opened her eyes a smidgen, and looked sideways at Aang. Suddenly, his tattoo started to glow faintly. It grew stronger and stronger, until Wren felt a jerk around her navel. She felt like she was being sucked through a tube. She was being squeezed, suffocated, smushed!!! She tried to breathe, and there was no air! No air! She gasped, and suddenly fell to her knees, still trying to gasp for breath. And then, she could breathe again. Aang was looking at her with a sort of apologetic look.

"Forgot to warn you about that, sorry" he said, smiling and scratching his head. Wren rolled her eyes, and raised herself up to full height, a full foot over Aang. Aang walked to a sort of pond nearby. He looked in it, and asked it politely.

"Roku, could you come here? I need some advice"

And then a head started to emerge from the shallow pool. His shoulders, his chest, his hands, and finally the tip of his robes came fully from the water, completely dry.

"Young...Avatar...." Roku started, but then saw Wren. His mouth hung open. Wren raised her eyebrow. Weren't the Spirits supposed to be wise and graceful? Right now Roku looked oddly child-like in his surprise. She could only guess why; only the Avatar could walk freely in the Spirit World. That much was known, even to the living.

"So, from the look on your face, I take it you see what's happening here. There are two Avatars. This isn't...right" Wren said just loud enough for Roku to hear.

"I-I never thought this would happen. It never happened before" Roku stammered.

"What never happened before?" Aang asked. Wren walked forward and elbowed him to make room.

"Two Avatars, dummy, what else? Roku, what do you know about the double-Avatar conundrum?" Wren asked. Short and to-the-point. Just the way Wren liked it.

"It is an ancient law. There's no man alive who remembers it. I would have spoken to you about it, Aang, when we saw each other before, but there was no evidence of their - her - existence. I thought it wasn't necessary"

Wren and Aang just looked at Roku with the same expectant look on their faces.

"The law states...that when the Avatar of the generation is...incapacitated for too long, and the world desperately needs his or her guidance, then the Spirits will...replace them. B-but Aang, you came back! And there was never a whisper of another Avatar. Yes, even the dead have ways of knowing about the Avatar" Roku added to Wren as she looked skeptically at him.

"You said that this had never happened before, so you couldn't have known that I existed anyway. You wouldn't have known how to look for me" Wren concluded.

"But there can only be ONE Avatar. More than one and the balance is upset" Aang said petulantly.

"That's all the law states. There is no law for this situation. All I can do is guess, and my guess is that the stronger of you will win out"

Wren and Aang looked at each other with worry and reluctance displayed clearly on their faces. Aang was just a kid, and she didn't know him at all, really, but she didn't want to fight him, or kill him. Far from it! What did that mean?

"So...we have to fight?" Aang asked. She could tell his thoughts were in line with hers. This comforted her. Roku just shook his head in obvious confusion.

"I cannot help you with this, Aang. I have no experience with a double-Avatar" he said as he shrank back into the pool. The two Avatars stood before the pool for a few moments, and then Aang grabbed her hand, and she felt the uncomfortable tug in her stomach, and then after a few oxygen-free seconds later, they were laying, gasping, on the floor of the Western Air Temple.

Wren sat, her burned arms around her burned legs, while Aang told the others what was going on. His voice sounded so remorseful when he got to the part where the Spirits had to replace him. But Wren couldn't bring herself to ease his pain and tell that part instead. When Aang finished, it was highly apparent that everybody else was thinking the same thing that she was; who was stronger? Was it her? If Wren had to admit it, she knew that she looked stronger than Aang.

She was riddled with scars from rock and fire and Spirits-know-what. She was older, more practiced in three of the elements than Aang could possibly be, he having studied them for a little over a year and she most of her life. But she didn't feel stronger. She felt weak. She shook her head, and her mind of that feeling. She was by no means weak. She stood up. The group watched her out of the corner of their eyes.

"Ahhg" she moaned, sinking back to the floor. Her burns, plus the short duel she'd had this morning, had really worn her out.

"How did I get like this?" she asked. The majority of the group shrugged in unison.

"We woke up yesterday and saw you just laying outside of the trap-door. It looked like you just collapsed there..." Sokka piped up.

"Trap-door?"

"The entrance and exit out of this place to ground-level" Toph explained. Wren nodded slightly.

"Katara...could you spend some more time on those wounds? They look painful - a lot like what I had when Azula hit me with that lightening" Aang murmured to her. She turned to him, eyes wide, trying to imply something - or accuse him of something, Wren wasn't sure - before she visibly crumpled under his questioning glance. She turned to Wren, and took some water out of her water-bag. She immediately began working on her legs.

To think that healing with water would be soothing would be natural. But, whoever had thought this had clearly never been healed by a clearly angry Katara. She was rough, not bothering to touch only the healed or un-burnt skin, or bothering to keep what was under her tunic properly under her tunic. Multiple times had Katara raised an arm, or Oh Dear God a leg, too high for comfort, only for Wren to jerk it back down and shoot her an angry glance. After thirty long minutes, most of Wren's burns were healed. She was able to get up and walk away, giving Katara only a cursory 'thank you'. She would have been more grateful but for the fact that Katara had been rough on purpose.

"Do you guys have any food around here?" she asked, rubbing her stomach. She was deathly hungry. She was shown the way to where the food was kept by the big, makes-Moose-look-like-an-ant-beetle sky bison, Appa. After a huge brunch, they showed her the rest of the way around the Temple. There wasn't much, just bedrooms and a food-hall that they didn't use. But then, they showed her the trap-door. As soon as she laid eyes on it, she started to formulate her plan. But after looking at it for a few seconds, Toph and Sokka pulled her along to go look at some wall-inscription or another.

She didn't pay attention to the lovely scenery, wall-paintings, crumbled upside-down buildings, or really anything else after she had seen the trap-door. She knew that something must have happened with Zuko. Why wasn't he here? What had happened to her? Why was she burnt? An awful thought crept into her head; what if Azula and Mai had attacked, and she was somehow knocked out?  
But she couldn't figure out what their goal would be, sending her here to the Avatar, instead of a prison. They said she had been found just outside the trap-door...what if Zuko had placed her there and left? She could see why he would - Katara's healing abilities (though grueling), had helped her a lot. More than Zuko could, anyway. There was only one solution Wren could think of to both keep up appearances and soothe this wracking, hellish worry inside of her. Go through the trap-door later on in the night, and search as long as possible for Zuko. If he had stuck her here, he must have stuck around...he would have to - he's on the Avatar's side, now.

The day flew by fast, after she had solved her problem. She was already starting to like Toph and Sokka, and maybe even Aang a little bit. Katara never loosened up on the icy demeanor towards her, which she shouldn't have been surprised at. She wondered what Katara's problem was. Everybody seemed to maybe-like Wren, even the ever-quiet Haru and Teo. She hadn't done anything in particular to Katara either, other than water-whip her with her own water. Wren supposed that this was a bit of a low blow, but something to be this way about? Surely not. There must be something else to it.

That night, after waiting for hours for everybody to be good and fast asleep, she crept up to the trap-door. She climbed the make-shift ladder Sokka had made, and poked her head above the actual ground. She was amazed. It was completely barren. She hoisted herself up, and managed to sit on the lip of the door. There were a few boulders here and there, but other than that and a few grasses, the place was desolate. Bare. She could see what Zuko had been talking about. She turned around, and saw a shadow shoot towards her from behind a large-ish boulder. She raised her hands to defend herself, but it was too late.

A/N Sorry if there are a lot of typos in here, guys. I just got off work and started writing this, and now it's midnight, and I'm bushed. Let me know what you think :]


	8. Introductions

A/N: So, this may be weird, but I HATE it when the characters you're writing about won't shut up in your head. I haven't been able to think about much else all day. O.o I've written this chapter twice already, but they're both saved on drives I can't get to until Monday at least...and I can't wait until then lol ^^ This chapter is just dying to escape. Hopefully this chapter will be really long, because I love super-long chapters. They make me feel accomplished. :] Enjoy!

Wren put up her hands to defend herself, but it was already too late to do anything about it. The figure, still obscure in the darkness, bowled her over and knocked her about three or four feet away from the trapdoor. She turned and righted herself, putting her hands up in near-perfect Fire-Nation form. But the shadow - much, much bigger in person than from a distance - was sauntering towards her. Her eyes were still slowly adjusting. The thing was about two feet away when she recognized it.

"Moose!" she cried as she wrapped her arms around the Leopard-Bear's massive head. Moose nuzzled her shoulder, making a sound equivalent to purring. She was almost knocked over because of the force. After a few moments of the happy reunion, Wren heard a thudding of footfalls in the distance, coming from open land. She took a step back; this put her behind Moose's leg, but allowed for her to peer just around his neck. She was virtually invisible in the dark.

A few seconds after Wren made sure that she would be unseen, a figure came into the dark. She couldn't make out the face, but she knew that it was a boy. She saw the clothes, and she knew who it was. She didn't bother to bite back the smile that exploded on her face; nobody would be able to see it and know how she felt. He walked over to Moose - on the opposite side of the animal that Wren was on - and patted his flank.

"Moose! She'll KILL me if I lose you!"

Wren grabbed a handful of Moose's fur to lift herself half-way onto his back. She looked at the top of the boy's head. He still had no idea she was there.

"Long time no see" she said a bit loudly.

Zuko jerked away from Moose, hand flying up to defend his face. Wren giggled.

"Wren! Are you okay? Why are you out here? I thought you were still out! You don't need to be walking around with injuries like that! You scared the crap out of me, sneaking up on me! Don't you have anything better to do, like healing?!" His voice started out questioning, and ended in a scolding. She wasn't offended, however, because the relief in his tone clearly negated the negativity of his words. Wren slid off of Moose.

"Well I'm glad you're pleased to see me, at any rate" she said coolly. Since it was dark, Wren could only just see the blush that came over Zuko's face. She couldn't tell; maybe she was imagining it.

"Why are you here? Coming to speak to the Avatar at this hour?" Wren added, remembering how he hadn't been there for her when she woke up. Her tone had a little to much spite in it, and from the short silence following her question, she could tell that Zuko didn't really understand it. Moose plopped down onto his stomach, causing Wren to almost fall off head-first; Zuko stretched his arms out a second too late to catch her, if she would have fallen. She jumped off of Moose and got to her feet, facing Zuko. He straightened out and then answered her question.

"Come see Aang? No, I came to check on you - I checked on you last night, and was getting really worried that I had somehow killed the second Avatar, and then I was going to try again tonight - but I couldn't just GO into the Avatar's - Aang's - hiding place to see you without him thinking the only logical thought possible, that I'm after them again. Especially not after what happened at Ba Sing Se. I don't know how badly Katara wants to kill me, but I'm pretty sure she's got a bloodlust in her now that would almost equal my sister. And I couldn't have gone with you when we first got here because if they thought you were in league with me they would have cured you in - oh, I'd say - about a hundred years"

Wren just stared at him, mouth open slightly. She tried to go over the statement over and over again in her head. Zuko checked on her at night? She'd been out for three days? ZUKO almost killed her?! WHAT?! She was too confused to say anything except,

"You've got Katara pretty much pegged. I don't know what her problem is with me, but apparently she's got one. Oh, and by-the-by, you almost killed me?"

"You don't remember?"

"Would I be asking you if I remembered?! What the HELL happened out there, Zuko?!?!"

"It was after you woke up from keeping the rain off of us all day, I was going back to sleep and didn't see you grab my clothes bag - if I'd been more attentive, I could've prevented all of this. You would have never been hurt...well, I heard you scream and opened my eyes, and lightening was shocking you. I couldn't do anything to stop it, I couldn't even redirect it! I hadn't told you about the bag because you had already been asleep - but that bag had a metal clasp - I put it away from us so that we wouldn't get electrocuted. But you didn't know that because I hadn't told you...I'm so sorry"

"So I got struck by lightening?" she asked, incredulous. Zuko nodded. Of all the things that she thought might have happened, that surely wasn't it. It was almost...mundane. There was a long stretch of silence. Neither of them knew what to say to the other. Wren kept shooting side-ways glances at him, happy to see his stupid face again, and found once that he was doing the same. Their eyes met, and both forcefully turned their heads the opposite way.

"So when are you going to force your presence on Aang?" she asked nonchalantly, as if she didn't really care.

"I don't know. Whenever I can feel confident that I won't die"

"So, never?" Wren asked sarcastically. He looked at her, raising his eyebrow.

"Look, Zuko, they're never going to cool down about you unless you give them a reason to. I would talk you up or something, except I'm not supposed to know about you, what happened in Ba Sing Se, or anything else to do with you perpetually screwing them over. You need to just go in there, surrender, and try to talk to them before they give you everything they've got"

"You could train children with that attitude" he half-joked, half-scowled.

"You know I speak the truth. Besides, whenever you do come, I'll try to protect you as much as I'm able. Least I could do after you saved my life"

There was another long silence. Wren reached around to Moose's head, giving him a good-bye scratch, and then turned and faced Zuko again.

"So, how about tomorrow?" she asked. Zuko looked at her for a moment, then nodded. Wren smiled, and then did something that not even SHE thought she would do. She stepped forward and wrapped Zuko in a hug. She felt him freeze up, and then slowly reach his arms around her shoulders and give her an awkward pat on the shoulder.

"Thank you" Wren whispered into his shoulder, then broke free, and almost sprinted to the trapdoor. She went halfway down the makeshift ladder, and made to slam the door, but after a second's worth of thought, she closed it as gently as she could. She landed on the floor lightly, and smiled. "See you then..." she murmured. She walked to the big chamber they all used for sleeping, and stepped over Toph as she went to her sleeping mat. She had made sure that there were people between her and the ledge so that if she rolled, they could wake her up or push her back in the right direction. She settled down, and fell asleep almost instantly.

Fire was everywhere. She saw Azula - Azula was here! Aang went to fight her, and Wren couldn't move!! What was happening? She spun on the spot to see Katara, more beautiful and more wicked than she was, laughing maliciously at her while she bended Wren's blood to keep her in place. "NO!" Wren shouted, but it didn't help. Sokka was thrown off of the cliff by a Fire-Nation solider! Toph was losing, her legs were burning! Teo was without his wheelchair, unable to do anything, and Aang was losing miserably to Azula!!! Wren turned again to block out these images of defeat. She raised her eyes, only to see a girl she could only assume to be Mai, turning Zuko's face to hers as they embraced...their lips met....

"NOOO!" Wren shouted again, jerking up. Sunlight assaulted her eyes. She squinted, and raised a hand to block out the brightness while her eyes adjusted. When she could see just a second later, she saw Sokka, Aang, Haru, and Katara looking at her with concern. Katara's look was more curiosity than it was concern, but at least it wasn't scorn. Toph was looking in the general direction of her, not really interested. Wren realized that she was panting like a sheep-hound after a race. She took in her surroundings. All was still and quiet, and the majority of the group was sitting around the fire that almost-constantly blazed, Katara cooking breakfast with Aang's help. It was a dream, a dream...Wren's hand fluttered to her heart. It was pumping like mad.

"S-sorry...I just had a nightmare..." she said quietly. Wren shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Her heart rate and breathing were already creeping back to normal. That was odd - Wren almost never had dreams. Wren got up and rolled her mat up. She placed it next to the others' - it was great that they had come across an extra one - and began trying to help with breakfast. Katara glared at her as she made to help out. She raised her hands above her head - a sign of surrender - and melted in with the group. She wondered when Zuko would make his appearance. She desperately hoped she would be near Aang when it happened, but she hoped even more that she was around Katara. She would not allow her to hurt him, not so much as even one water-whip.

It happened after they had finished eating. Wren was helping Aang wash the dishes with Water-Bending, when she heard Teo yell out "ZUKO!" Aang sprang into action, Wren not much behind him. She HAD to find Zuko, and therefore Katara. She soon overtook Aang in her path towards the trapdoor. And then, she saw him. Zuko was already on his knees, his hands in the air. Teo was backing away from him quickly, and Haru, Toph, and Sokka were just making it to the scene. She skidded to a stop, waiting for something to do. Aang caught up with her, and looked with bewilderment at Zuko's stance. Then, when it looked like Zuko was going to get a chance to talk, Wren heard a yell come from behind her.

"YOU!" Katara screeched. She saw Katara go straight into action, despite the surrender, and so did Wren. She flipped backward and landed just in time to sway Katara's attack. It wasn't a water-whip, like Wren had thought. They were daggers of ice. This pissed Wren off. She tore them from Katara's control with a burst of energy, and reformed them into a block of ice, which she shot back at Katara, knocked her off of her feet. She then blocked Toph's attack with a twist of her foot and re-formed the ice again to form a perfect water whip to knock Katara down again. She brought the water around again to freeze Sokka's boomerang in its' path, hurling it a few feet away. She dodged Toph's Dai Li Earth cuffs, only to be blasted half-way down the hall. Damn. She'd forgotten Aang.

"I thought you were on our side!" he shouted.

"I AM!" she shouted back, "But this man isn't your enemy! He's my FRIEND!"

This halted all activity towards either her or Zuko. She got up and walked back to the group surrounding Zuko. She walked towards him, and put on hand under his elbow, lifting him up.

"It may sound crazy, but he's just as much on your side now as I am"

She felt hands drag her back toward Aang's group. Sokka had pulled her towards him - away from Zuko.

"He's fooled you, you don't know what he's done" he said, ice hanging on his every word.

"I do, too! I know about Ba Sing Se, I know about Kyoshi, about the South AND North Pole, about everything! He told me himself! Tell them, Zuko!" The whole group looked at him.

"Yeah...everything Wren said is true. We traveled here together after I stayed with her in her home near Ba Sing Se. I really am on your side now - but I know that's hard to believe..."

"Too hard to believe" Katara interuppted him, and water-whipped him off of his feet.


	9. Allies and Enemies

A/N: I have a lot of ideas for this chapter, and I hope they all get to make their appearance in this chapter. If not, there's always chapter ten!! Enjoy!

Wren snarled in indignation. Zuko wasn't even fighting her and Katara was STILL determined to kick his ass! Zuko began to get up as Wren saw Katara ready another attack. She moved to strike Katara first, before she could block it. So maybe now she would find out just how far she could throw this water-bending pain-in-the-ass.

A pair of Dai Li cuffs came from nowhere and pinned Katara's hands behind her. She stumbled, knocked off balance because of the attack she'd been about to make, but she couldn't stay upright in the end. She fell to her side, and Aang tried to go to her aid before she shook him off and managed to get to her knees. She struggled against the cuffs to no avail, and then looked directly at Wren.

"Let me GO! How DARE you cuff me, traitor?!" she screeched.

But Wren was staring at her hands, nonplussed. She hadn't bended the cuffs to Katara - she hadn't made a move at all, yet. She looked around, bewildered. The wallflower Haru was simply taking in the scene, and Aang was hovering in the background as well, unsure of what to do or believe. That's when she felt Toph take a step through the Earth - to move onto Zuko and Wren's side of the argument. Wren was shocked.

"I think I know why you're so confident in Sparky over here. You can Earth-Bend, right? So you know when you're being lied to?" she asked Wren.

"Shiro - my master - taught me well in the Earth-Bending area...so yes, I'm able to tell" she answered. Toph then turned back to the group.

"I agree with Wren and Sparky. There isn't any trace of a lie anywhere in there. Zuko really is trying to help us"

There was a shocked silence. Aang slowly shook his head in disbelief, and Sokka, Teo and Haru looked torn as well. Katara was near tears, the cuffs still in place. Zuko was simply amazed at how this all had turned out; he looked on the scene with surprise and a hint of hope. Wren looked at Katara - still bitter and angry, getting to her feet. Maybe Katara was an insufferable little brat, and the last thing she wanted to do was free her, but Wren didn't want to cause any unnecessary tension, either. She raised her hands, and made the cuffs drop to the ground with a thud. Katara rubbed her wrists - which were red - and turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Geez, Sugar Queen's been acting weird lately" Toph remarked.

"Oh, so she's not always this...way?" Wren had been about to say something else, but stopped in her tracks. The group shook their heads, almost as one.

"I'd better go see what her problem is...Sokka, take care of this" Aang said, looking down the hallway as Katara disappeared. And with that, he snapped open his glider - which he had brought (Wren hadn't noticed this before, due to the circumstances) and tore after Katara. Wren rolled her eyes. Somebody should do something about the palpable tension between those two; she'd only been here two days and she knew they were head-over-heels. What must it be like for everybody else who had been with them for awhile?

"What made you turn over to our side?" Sokka asked, turning on Zuko once more.

"What I'd been searching for for all those years - my father's love and approval - wasn't like I thought it would be. My home wasn't what I thought, like I wanted. Even Mai turned out...well, that's a different story entirely. But the point is, it wasn't worth it"

Sokka looked at Toph, who nodded, then - and Wren was surprised at this - Sokka looked at her. She nodded as well, confirming Zuko's statement.

"How so? Come on, Zuko, you can't hold out on us. Despite the two Earth-Benders on your side, we're just going to need more proof than that"

"They expected me to be somebody I'm not. And I tried to live up to that expectation - I did, I'll admit it. But I failed miserably - but since when is that new?" Zuko asked, his voice turned to a bitter kind of sadness. Everybody shifted uncomfortably; nobody knew quite what to say to that.

"Well, you got me here all right; I'd say that was win-number-one" Wren said jokingly, trying to cheer him up.

"No, win-number-one would be leaving the Fire Nation" Toph pointed out, catching onto Wren's drift.

"And you did kind of beat the crap out of me at the South Pole" Sokka added.

"I did?"

"You don't even remember?!" Sokka shouted in disbelief, his voice almost cracking, "I happen to be very memorable, thank-you-very-much!"

"Says who?" Toph asked him, teasing.

"Ha, ha, Toph"

Wren found herself laughing at their continued antics. She couldn't help it; everything looked to have worked out! Although she knew they wouldn't automatically accept Zuko right away, they were at least on the right track. That, and Sokka and Toph were pretty funny. Her life had been turned upside-down, but now that it was, she knew she would never turn it back if given the chance. She would always owe Shiro, of course, but she had never loved him, had never been quite happy with him; he was simply the man who begrudgingly lived with her, who unwillingly trained her. This life was much more preferable. And who knew? Maybe she might not even have to face Ozai - maybe Aang...she shook her head.

This was her duty. She couldn't allow a child to take her place simply because she COULD. Absurd. As a makeshift Avatar, it would be very unbecoming to deny the one job that was assigned to her. Wren wasn't even supposed to exist in the first place; who was she to foist her entire purpose off? She felt dirty for even thinking it...luckily her thoughts were interuppted by a yell from the other room.

What NOW?

The whole group - even Zuko! - made their way as one towards the main room, weapons out, stances ready. But the precaution wasn't needed; they arrived to the room to find Aang on one side of the main hall, Katara on the other, both red in the face and quite angry. The whole group realized at the same second that they had just intervened on something of a lovers' quarrel, and people were disappearing faster than you could blink; slipping away deftly to distant rooms here or a shadowed hallway there. Wren and Zuko were among the last to take the hint, and as they slid off, Wren could of sworn that Katara threw her a look so severe with hatred that Wren actually shivered, and was hurt just a little. There was just no call for this kind of anger. She would have to ask Katara what was up next time she wasn't arguing with Aang.

Speaking of...Wren grabbed Zuko's sleeve as he passed her (she had stopped), and tugged him back to the entrance of the doorway. She was curious as to what they were arguing about. Zuko saw where she was headed and tapped her shoulder. She looked around to see him shaking his head violently, his hand moving across his throat, signalling to her that they would probably be murdered if caught. She rolled her eyes. Wren shrugged and let go of Zuko's sleeve, continuing back toward the fight. He debated for a second, and followed her silently. They got to the corner, and heard the argument quite well from their hiding place.

" - how could you, Aang? He's a liar! You _KNOW_ he's a liar! He just wants to hurt you again, the whole damn _FIRE NATION_ wants you dead, and you think inviting the head Honcho's _SON_ is going to work in your favor? Are you CRAZY? Do you _REMEMBER_ what that blasted little bitch did to you at Ba Sing Se, and did Zuko stop EVEN ONCE to try to stop her?!? You almost, you almost...I don't need to remind you! At least, I SHOULDN'T" Katara was half-shouting at him, her voice breaking through with obvious tears.

"Don't you trust Toph? She felt herself that Zuko was telling the truth. I trust her opinion, and back that up with Wren saying the same - "

"Ha!! Wren! Take whatever she says with a grain of salt, I say!"

Somehow, Wren knew her name was going to crop up, once she knew they were arguing about Zuko. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her forefinger and her thumb.

"What evidence do you have that Wren is a liar? Toph hasn't said anything...?" Aang asked.

"I don't need EVIDENCE! What kind of Avatar lies low when the world is desperate for their guidance? You don't need to be a professor to know all about HER sort, Aang!"

There was a large silence, filled only with Katara's ragged breathing. Wren was pained; to be fair, she hadn't known the state of the world. She hadn't! Shiro had kept it from her, and it was only brought to light from Zuko's midnight explanations. She would've tried so much harder if she had known just how badly Ozai wanted destruction. If, if, if...'if' wasn't going to get her anywhere; she had made a mistake, clearly. She had taken it without a second thought from Shiro that she had time to train, that no immediate action was needed. No second thought at all...couple that with the very thoughts she'd had earlier...

"Is that what you think, then?" Aang asked in a quiet voice. Whereas Katara had been yelling or shouting at him, Aang had remained relatively calm during this 'conversation'. But his voice now was different; pained. His voice sounded like Wren felt.

"Oh, no, Aang, I didn't mean it like that, I meant that she, no, it's not - ! Aang, please!" Katara called out.

Wren heard a distinctive snap, a slight whoosh of air, then nothing but Katara's crying. She heard footsteps, and when Wren realized where they were headed, she turned to Zuko to usher him away - but he wasn't there. This brought Wren up short; he'd just been here....? But no time to ponder. Run away! Run away! She made it fifteen feet down the hall when she heard Katara round the corner. Wren froze in place; at this distance, there'd be no question that she'd overheard everything. She turned slowly to face Katara, a little relieved that Zuko had left, and saw Katara's half-livid, half-anguished face. Wren was about to open her mouth to apologize when Katara spoke.

"Everything I said was true, you know"

Wren just looked at her.

"You're a lazy, impudent mistake, and your boyfriend is lying Fire Nation scum. Don't forget that. Just because Aang has gone delusional and insists on keeping you around doesn't mean that he likes you, or that my eyes won't be on you, WREN. Watch your step, around Aang, and around me"

"I'll bear that in mind. And also, it's not Aang who's delusional. The only crazy here - is you"

And with that, Wren swept off into the dark, to find out where Zuko, Toph, and Sokka had gotten off to.


	10. Meeting in the Dark

A/N: Yeah! That last chapter was fun fun fun to write. I love me some cat fights. Mee-yow! Saucer of milk at table two, please...lol. Well, I'd say more here, but I'd end up spoiling some things ^^'' Enjoy!

Wren couldn't see in the dark; she didn't think that she'd ever been down this passage-way before, _a_nd she stumbled around, feeling for the wall to get her bearings. She found it the hard way - by bumping face-first into it. She rubbed her nose, and had a sudden burst of inspiration._ This is stupid_, she thought.

She pulled from her body just enough energy to form a little ball of fire in her hand. It didn't burn her; she had long ago discovered how to maneuver fire just right. The small fire flooded the hall with light. Wren looked at the wall, and jumped back with a small shout of surprise. The carving on the wall had startled her - it was of a female Air-Bender, with eyes that looked at you wherever you moved. She felt an odd, detached sort of connection with her. Something deep in her had stirred, causing her to somehow recognize this woman. She couldn't shake the feeling. Thoroughly creeped out, Wren continued along the passage, ignoring the many doors and small entrance-ways along the sides.

Wren sat there, staring, completely frustrated. The passage was a dead-end - after all that way she had walked! She had hoped to find Zuko when she got to the end, but now she would have to look into every room or hallway that she had passed. She sighed heavily. _Or_, she thought to herself, _she could always just wait until she saw him at dinner, or later_. She snorted. Fat chance. She turned, and opened the door closest to her. Nope. She checked the next one; nope. And on it went.

About halfway back down the hall, about to give up and just see him at dinner, she saw Zuko emerge from a doorway two doors ahead of her. He looked around, puzzled by the light, and saw Wren with her hand on the handle of a door, clearly just caught in the act of looking in. They stared at each other for a moment in silence. A familiar wave of heat trickled its way through her body, and suddenly, Wren felt a burning sensation on her hand.

"Ouch!" she cried, shaking the hand that held the fire. She'd let it get too large, and it burned her. The flame went out the second she stopped projecting it due to the shock of the pain. She clasped the burnt hand within the healthy one, and bounced a little on the spot. The burn didn't feel too big, but then again, the little ones are always the worst. Light flooded the hall again; Zuko was walking towards her with a small patch of fire in the hand he wasn't stretching towards her. He grabbed her wrist - the one with the burnt hand attached to it - and gently pulled it free of her grasp, and raised it to his eyes to examine it. Wren looked at it, too. It wasn't too bad - but it was already blistering. Involuntary (and highly traitorous!) tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the pain of it.

"Come on, let's get you to Katara - it's always the small ones that are the biggest pains" Zuko said shortly. Wren snorted, and then recounted to him what had happened after he disappeared. His eye was twitching by the end. Was he angry on her behalf, or his?

"I'm not your boyfriend!!" Zuko exclaimed in indignation.

"_Is that the only thing you got from that?!_ Doesn't it matter to you that she said those things to begin with?!" Wren asked him, equally indignant. Zuko calmed down a little bit.

"No, not really. It's not true, of course, but she's a little justified in thinking it. I mean, to use your words, I am 'perpetually screwing them over'. Now you, on the other hand, I don't know why she would be angry with you" To this, Wren just shrugged. She didn't have a clue, either.

"Hey, where'd you get off to, anyway?" Wren asked. To this, Zuko looked down at the ground.

"You're going to call me silly or something, but it's not! I just...didn't want to hear it anymore. It was having all my past mistakes thrown back at me in my face. I had to get out of there..."

"No, it's not silly...I know the feeling. You may have left before she got onto me and my own mistakes. And, it is my own fault, I took Shiro at his word while the world suffered for it, and I just didn't - "

"But your mistake could be excused, surely. You were just a child, listening to her master!"

"You thought you were doing the right thing, though, regaining your honor. _You_ at least rectified your mistake by coming here!"

"Hark who's talking! You left the whole place behind and come here to see Aang when you could've just gone somewhere safer and hid! Nobody would've known, you'd have got off scott free - "

"And what kind of person would I be then?!"

"Not you"

"And you think you know me?"

"Little by little, I'm getting to know you, yes. And other people would have done it, but you're not like other people"

"What am I like?"

"Hey you two, we've already had a lovers' spat today, let's not go for a two-fer" Toph's voice drifted toward them. They both turned at the same time.

"WE ARE NOT LOVERS!" they yelled at the same time, small blasts of fire bursting out of their hands at almost the same time.

"Ow!" Wren cried. Zuko sighed, and moved his hand from her bad one to her good wrist, and started dragging her forward.

"What are you doing?" Wren asked indignantly. She almost tried to break free before she realized that Zuko was still holding her hand.

"Taking you to Katara. You two obviously need to work things out" he said shortly.

"Oooh, I love me a good cat fight!" Toph said excitedly as she followed the two of them down the corridor.

A/N: Lol, added in that last line just for funsies.


	11. Caught Up

A/N: Originally, I had no idea where I was going to go with this, but then I was in the shower last night and the ideas wouldn t stop coming lol! But I was way too tired to do anything about them :( But I still remember the grand majority ^^ Enjoy!

"Zuko!" Wren exclaimed, trying to get his attention. He ignored her.

"ZUKO!" she said more forcefully, pulling on her arm to get him to look around. He didn't.

"You're _going_ to see Katara, and you two are _going_ to work this out. I've already accepted that she s going to hate me for eternity, but she shouldn't hate you"

"Aw, your boyfriend's just trying to help, Wren"

"He's NOT my boyfriend!!" Wren shouted at Toph, who just laughed.

Wren tried to dig her heels into the ground, but Zuko just pulled her along harder. She tried to Earth-Bend the stone floor to wrap around her feet and hold her in one place, but the Earth didn't seem to want to comply. Toph laughed again, while Wren exhaled in fury, surprised when her breath came out as stream. They had gotten to the main chamber now, where Aang and Katara had been fighting, and sure enough, Katara was there. She turned, saw Zuko and Wren, and turned swiftly away again. Zuko let go of her hand, and put his on the small of her back. He pushed her forward gently. A chill ran up Wren's spine from where he touched it, leaving nothing but warmth behind. She stepped away from Zuko's hand. She sighed; Zuko was right. In order for her to fit in properly, and therefore help Zuko to do the same, she had to make friends with the mother Duck-hen. Urhg.

"Uh, hey, Katara"

"What do you want?" she replied, still turned away. The icy demeanor set Wren's easily-agitated nerves abound.

"What else? To talk to you" she said, trying to calm herself down. This was never going to work if they were _both_ angry.

"Haven't I made myself clear?" Katara asked, still not turning around. "I want nothing to do with you or your Fire Nation boyfriend"

"He. Is. Not. My. Boyfriend" said Wren through her teeth.

"Either way. Just leave me alone"

"Why do you hate me so damn much? What the hell did I ever do to you?! I'm here to help Aang fight Ozai! Doesn't that count for anything?!" Wren half-yelled, her anger spilling over. She saw Katara jerk straight from the sitting position she had been in. She turned on her knee (finally) to face Wren.

"Why? WHY? You have no right to be here, to even exist! How could you _steal Aang's thunder_ like that?!"

"That may be true, but that's not the reason you hate me! I can tell you re lying, Katara"

Katara visibly fumed. Had she been a Fire-Bender, the air would be rolling in heat waves. The air around Wren now was a bit too hot for comfort, but Wren hardly noticed.

"It's about Aang, isn't it?" Wren taunted. She was just trying to vent her frustration, to make Katara angrier, but from the look on her face and the sudden spike in heart rate, barely noticeable, it looked like she had gotten it right on the head.

"Does it make you mad that I can understand him better than anybody, better than you, even? Does it bother you that there's a new girl in the group to lure him away from you? You know we're practically siblings, but with no real blood-relation? If we so fancied, we could date at any time. And you know what, Katara?" Wren continued, smiling mercilessly, "_Aang is kind of cute_"

Katara shouted out in indignation and fury. She threw herself at Wren, wrestling her to the ground all bending was forgotten. Wren rolled, balancing herself on Katara's legs to try to pin her, it didn't work. She took a hit to the face and struck Katara right back, punching her around the eye. She felt a hand in her hair and then really felt her head being yanked down onto Katara's fist. She twisted her own hand in Katara's long hair and pulled it as hard as she could. She felt her trying to struggle, and Wren landed an elbow in her gut. She heard Katara gasp out, and suddenly, they were separated.

"GUYS!" Zuko was shouting. He had a hold on Wren, his arms holding hers behind her back, and Toph subduing Katara with Earth-Bending. Both girls were struggling to continue to fight. Wren twisted away from Zuko and let Katara out it would be no fun just beating up on a helpless little girl. Katara pulled water from her bag, and prepared to fight. Wren smiled; she could take on this little...oh, she couldn't wait. He heard Zuko backing away as fast as he could.

Katara pulled the Octopus formation, while Wren created an Earth Ball and was starting to ride it around and around Katara in circles. Katara was trying to strike her every time she passed close by, but Wren was working the Earth Ball with her feet too quickly. Katara almost got her, so Wren pulled up the thinnest of layers of dirt to shroud around her. Katara was blind. Suddenly, the Octopus Formation disappeared.

Katara walked out of the dust cloud, water wrapped around her arms. Wren hopped off the ball quickly. This was a real fight, now. She raised earth around her in preparation. It pained her burn to move her hands in position to control stone, but she ignored it. Katara tried to hit her, but Wren slid out of the way. She threw a rock at Katara, and it swerved and hit her in the small of the back. Katara stumbled, but a water-whip came from nowhere to smack Wren in the face. She pulled the ground like a carpet around Katara. She lost her footing, and fell to one knee. Suddenly, she spun and forced the water to freeze, and shot the ice-wall at Wren, who couldn't move to block it in time. She was knocked off of her feet. Wren was tired of this. She dropped the Earth, and began to fight Katara s control over the water.

"No, no you don't!" Katara said through her teeth, nearly sweating with exertion. Wren had a sudden idea. She took a deep breath, and pulled energy from her body. She aimed her face at the water and let fire burst from her mouth. Katara gasped, and let her control slip a notch in surprise. She almost had the water from Katara's control when she found herself being thrown half-way across the chamber, slamming hard against the wall opposite the cliff-side. She slid down to the floor, and groaned. Then, a hand was laid on her shoulder. She lifted herself up and opened her eyes it was Zuko. She began to get up to continue fighting, when she saw Katara wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

Aang was staring at Wren, pure anger in his eyes. He was standing between her and Katara, his staff pointed in her direction, clearly ready to attack. She just sat there, dumbfounded. But then she smiled.

"See, Katara? Aang and I? Preposterous. Look whose aid he comes to!"

Aang took on a surprised look. He lowered his staff somewhat when it looked like Wren wasn't going to attack again, and he looked back at Katara. She was standing there, blushing. She looked at her hands, then at Wren. Wren raised a hand to her face. She could feel a black eye coming in, urhg. Who knew the Sugar Queen could pack such a punch?

"What's going on?" Aang asked. Katara opened her mouth to explain, but Wren beat her to the punch.

"Your girlfriend here has a major problem with me, and it's because of you"

Aang looked even more confused that he did before.

"What?" he asked, turning to Katara, who was looking at Wren in a 'did-you-really-have-to-do-that?' kind of way. Katara looked from Aang to Wren, from Wren to Zuko (who was still touching her!!), and finally back to Aang.

"Fine! I thought that, well, you and Wren would...you're so alike - in more ways than we are - and she's....pretty...you were really nice to her - then she was on Zuko's side of things, as if that can be forgiven...I couldn't stand her! Confrontational, she doesn't fit in at all! I couldn't let her take - well...you get it" she huffed. She said this all very quickly, and in a high voice.

"What?!" Aang repeated, still completely confused.

"She likes you, lover boy. She was jealous of Wren" Zuko explained. "That, and she's friends with me, which is to her, against you to begin with. But...you know that's not true, right?"

"I trust Toph...and Katara, why would you be jealous? That's...that's stupid!"

"Is it really? Aang, you and her...you understand each other like nobody else can, and you get along well..." Katara countered. repeating Wren's earlier words.

"She wasn't the one who I met outside the iceberg. She didn't fight for me at the North Pole, she wasn't the one who saved my life in Ba Sing Se, and she sure wasn't the one I kissed on the Day of Black Sun!" Aang came back with. Katara just looked at him. Wren and Zuko looked at each other, embarrassed. Wren certainly would have done those things - saved him and such (never would have kissed him, though) - if she had been able. And Zuko had been the one Katara had been fighting at the North Pole. They blushed and looked back toward Aang and Katara, who were now hugging.

"I'm...just going to go now..." Wren said, more to announce that she was leaving than anything. She noticed that Toph was already gone. She and Zuko left the budding couple to do their thing. They were wandering to nowhere in particular when Zuko touched Wren's elbow lightly. She turned, and was surprised. Zuko was right there, a few inches from her face in the semi-darkness.

"You really do fit in, you know, here with them. They like you" he murmured. How did he know that a nagging voice in the back of her head hadn't shut up about it since Katara had uttered the words? She didn't - well, couldn't, really - say anything. Zuko was too close for her brain to function right. He didn't move away from her. His hand was still on her elbow, but now it wasn't only his fingertips that were there - he was holding her upper arm, as if to keep her there. Was he trying to drive her crazy?! Without thinking, Wren moved her face towards his just a centimeter. Suddenly Zuko moved his head back several inches from hers. Wren let out a breath of surprise. Hurt swept through her. She'd been about to kiss him and he pulled away! Her jaw dropped in indignation. She realized this, and shut it with a snap.

"At least somebody does!" she said, and turned to run as fast as she could down the hall away from Zuko. She wished she could just disappear! Melt into the floor! SOMETHING. How embarrassing! She got about a foot away before she was being dragged back; Zuko still had her elbow. He turned her around and in one movement, pinned her body to the wall with his and kissed her. She was blank with shock. And confused. But soon she forgot this. She forgot where they were. She forgot her own name.

Her hands went straight to Zuko's shoulders, grabbing the fabric of his shirt and pulling him closer. His hands went to her waist, and one traveled up her back, brushing up her spine with the fingertips, to wind itself in her hair. One of her own hands went to the small of his back, preventing him from going anywhere but closer to her, and the other brushed his neck; he shivered and kissed her harder. Her hand brushed across his jugular, and she could feel his pulse, thudding faster than she would have thought possible. there was a crash and a yell in the distance, but they couldn't have cared less about it. It hardly even registered with Wren. They were curled so closely together that they couldn't have been seperated easily even if they wanted to be.

And it was in this position that they were found.

"Well, well, Zuzu, over Mai so easily?"


	12. There will be blood

A/N: Ah, chapter twelve. We meet at last. This will be long lol. Sorry. So, in my imagination (therefore my story), the Air Temples have a LOT of hallways that sometimes go nowhere or are completely unnecessary to have. Why, you ask? Because in my head the people who built the Western Air Temple wanted the place to be confusing to outsiders; they used a lot of dead-end hallways (see chapter 10) and useless hallways that connect to other useless hallways etc, etc, to trip up intruders and the like. Also, not all of the people who lived there were benders, right? We know that from the other three kingdoms/tribes etc. So not everybody could simply glide from one building to the next like Aang can. There are hallways and such connecting the individual buildings (the one Wren woke up on was one of the few solitary ones) so that the non-benders could get around. This info is essential (kinda) to this chapter, and I couldn't manage to fit it in AND sound natural and stuff. I started out with this notion, but I realized before I started writing that I hadn't communicated that as much as I would have liked. ^^ So basically, labyrinth of hallways = Western Air Temple. Enjoy! Also, check out my new story - yay!

"Zuzu?" Wren giggled. What a cute nickname!

Wren's mind was working slowly - Zuko was still so close she could feel his warm breath in her hair and on her ear. Suddenly, he sprang from her like she was poison. Her hands automatically went to his stomach (yum yum!) to keep him close. Then, her brain caught up with the situation. A girl was standing before them, a bit out of breath. She was dressed head-to-toe in Fire Nation garb, hands at the ready with a just-visible sadistic smirk on her face. One glance told Wren who she was. _Of course_ she would be here. Of course.

Realization struck home; AZULA! AZULA WAS HERE! FOR AANG! What to do what to do what to do?! Find AANG! She couldn't leave now, she couldn't run, she didn't know where he was, or where _she_ was, she couldn't leave Zuko, she couldn't get past Azula. She weighed her options carefully in her head. After a few seconds of heated and lightening-fast internal debate, she stayed still. The battle that would ensue her trying to find Aang wouldn't be worth it. She had to pick her battles; she'd take the first exit she could get, and drag Zuko along with her.

There was a tense silence where the two Fire-Benders stared each other down, stances ready. Wren dithered behind Zuko; she had no idea what to do, now. Surely this was Azula - surely - who ELSE would it be? Did Zuko want her to himself? Did he even need her help? Suddenly, footsteps were thudding in the distance, growing louder. Both of the siblings took a short glance in the direction, but there was nothing but darkness there. Out of nowhere, a girl went flying past them. She skidded to a halt, and ran the five or six feet back to them.

"Azula, they...got..." said a dreary voice, slightly annoyed and very out-of-breath.

The girl had just caught sight of Zuko, still unbearably close to Wren, completely shocked. It didn't help that his shirt was askew and his hair thoroughly mussed. Wren put a hand on her hair to check the damage, and found that it too felt like she'd just...well, never mind.

"Zuzu...you remember Mai" Azula said viciously.

There was a scream of indignation, followed by a swift motion. A dagger just missed Wren by an inch. With this, action exploded. Fire flowed through Wren like she was a natural-born Fire-Bender, and she was sending a blast before she knew what she was doing, not in Azula's direction (but she was next), but in Mai's. She couldn't help it; her dream came flooding back to her. And dammit, this _Mai_ wasn't going to be the one being kissed by Zuko at the end if Wren could help it.

This surprised the two enemies, and using this distraction, Wren grabbed Zuko's ready hand and bolted past them, heading straight for the main area where Aang was sure to be. Halfway down the hall, the pair had caught up with them, but were held off in the small hall by Wren and Zuko's combined blasts of fire. Wren and Zuko all but poured into the main area; to find it completely deserted, but decorated heavily with the evidence of battle. A red war balloon was sitting pretty on the lip of the cliff, and Appa was flying in circles, roaring every few seconds; looking for Aang. The cliff-adjacent room was riddled with scorch marks, small knives in the walls and floor, chunks of the floor and walls were missing where undoubtedly Toph and Haru were fighting, and most sickeningly, pools of blood were scattered here and there. Wren repressed a shiver; she didn't have time to worry. Azula and Mai were back upon them.

Azula went straight for her brother, while Mai - eyes watering - came for Wren. Though Wren was still exhausted and in pain from her battle with Katara and the burn that still hadn't been healed, her anger took over completely once again. Mai threw knife after knife after dagger after throwing-star at her, and Wren simply dodged every one. She was too angry to settle down and use an Earth-attack; she was only focused enough to use Fire, the easiest element to use because it was fueled in part by emotion. And she had a lot of emotion at the moment. Mai withdrew a dagger from her robes and it barely missed Wren - it cut part of her hair and robe as it passed, leaving a straight, clean and light scratch on Wren's waist. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl pat her robe for another dagger, but then a panicked look came to her face as she patted more frantically; she was out of knives. Wren took this opportunity. She twirled into Mai, sending a potent eruption of Fire in her direction - it was everywhere, the fire. It came from both fists and her mouth. She only stopped when she heard the satisfactory crunch. She watched Mai for a few seconds; she didn't get back up. The sight was an ugly one; her whole upper torso was burnt, what was left of her chest was open and exposed. Wren turned away.

She saw Zuko and Azula fighting intensely. She would have probably let Zuko handle it - he's a big boy - but they had no time. They needed to find Aang. So Wren decided to use the move that she hadn't unleashed yet. She separated her energies, and where they met again after rejoining is where she pulled her power from. She took as good of an aim as she could - and shot Azula in the back with her home-made lightening. Azula was raised off of the ground for a few seconds - having a sort of mid-air seizure - before crumpling to the floor and spasming sporadically. It was a disgusting sight to see a fellow human so easily disabled. Zuko rushed forward and grabbed her hand. They _had_ to find Aang.

Thinking as one, they headed for the trapdoor. They opened it and found no evidence - except for a severely agitated Moose - of life, forget the group. So, they were still in the Temple somewhere. They ran down the first hall they could find, and then another, then another, _then another_! Did the builders of this place MEAN to make it a crazy house? Just when they were about to give up, the floor was pulled around their feet, unnoticed by Zuko, who had shoes on, but it meant good news for Wren. An Earth-Bender! Wren skidded to a stop, pulling Zuko along with her, and looked around. She started to run back to where she had felt the floor move when she ran head-long into somebody.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Toph!"

"I'm glad you guys are okay"

"I'm glad you're okay, too! Where's everybody else?"

"Follow me"

She led them back to a random room in the hall. She and Zuko never would have found them if Toph hadn't sensed them running by. Thank the Spirits for Earth-Bending. Toph led them to the room, and everybody was operating in the dark until Zuko and Wren lit their hands. This wasn't good, not at all. The majority of the group was doing fine, but Haru had taken a small injury to his arm and Teo...it didn't look like he was going to make it out of here. Katara was doing the best she could on him, but a girl named Ty Lee had apparently done quite a number on her. Aang, and now Wren, were doing their best to try to heal, but neither were doing a great job - the blood just wouldn't stop coming. Toph and Sokka were updating them on what happened, voices overlapping and interrupting each other.

Sokka and Toph and been above the Temple, playing with Moose, when suddenly Toph felt an attack below. She and Sokka ran into Haru and Teo on the way, who insisted upon coming, even though Teo was essentially useless in combat and Haru's Earth-Bending still needed ample amounts of work. They arrived to find Katara and Aang getting their asses kicked by Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. The fight was going down okay until Mai had gotten it into her head that attacking Teo would be a good idea. He'd been hit with no less than seven knives before anybody else noticed. That's when Sokka and Aang managed to get the idea across to separate and lose them in this labyrinth Air-Benders used to call home - that way they could meet up in a secret place and heal Teo. It worked. Azula went after Aang while Ty Lee and Mai went after the rest.

Ty Lee and Mai caught up with them. Ty Lee went after Katara while Mai was after Sokka. Toph turned, and Earth-Bended three spikes out of the stone floor, knocking Ty Lee into the wall, pinning her there. They all heard the bones crunch, and the blood spill to the ground. Ty Lee was down. Then Toph, Sokka, and what was left of Katara turned on Mai, who promptly turned and sped off in the opposite direction. They went to the safe place where Aang met up with them a few minutes later. That's when Wren and Zuko filled in the rest of the story.

"So Azula and Mai are down? We can get out of here okay?" Aang asked.

"As far as I can tell, yes" Wren answered.

"Then let's _go_. There's no point in sticking around when they know where we are. If we can get far enough away to where they can't follow us, then we may have a chance at them being unable to find us. At least not for another few weeks" Aang said tiredly.

"What about Moose?"

"They came in on an air balloon" said Haru, his voice a bit pained.

"So?" Wren asked.

"So Haru's got a point. We can put Moose in the balloon - it should be big enough for him and one Fire-Bender to power it. It can fly alongside Appa - it should be able to go just as fast"

"And if it doesn't?" inquired Zuko.

"We'll tie a rope or something to it and it can just go with the flow" Sokka said, clearly basking in his own brilliance.

"Okay, can we GO now? We don't know how long they'll be out"

And so they left. They got to the main room, and saw Azula still lying there, crazy-close to the edge of the cliff, breath shallower than a puddle. Mai was even worse. Zuko took a long look at her, then turned his face away with an expression of deep disgust. Wren and Zuko took control of the balloon, Zuko showing her how to do it - while the rest of the team packed up Appa, who had calmed down. Zuko took the balloon to ground level, and opened its door to get Moose in. He would just fit. It was a little hard getting him in, but once it was all done with, he laid down on the floor and that was that.

A fully-loaded Appa landed next to Zuko and Wren. They tied the balloon to Appa's saddle, and the last thing Zuko did was set the burner to carry the balloon to a reasonable height. After the fuel ran out a Fire-Bender would have to provide the flame, but they wouldn't need to do that for another two days or so. And sitting on Appa side-by-side holding hands, Wren, Zuko, and the rest of the gang took off for the nearest city. Teo would need real medical attention. At the last second, Wren turned to get a last look at the Western Air Temple. It felt more like a home than any other place to her. And even though they were quite a distance away, Wren could have sworn that there was nobody in the main room.


	13. After the Fall

A/N: Wasn't that last chapter just fun on a bun? :D I thought so. It was really satisfying to write. And I know, I know, it's a bit more violent than the show, but it was a cartoon - they never even showed blood. I don't think they were allowed to. I, on the other hand, can ^^ And since I always thought that this Bending business would actually be a lot more bloody than it was in the show, it is here. Enjoy!

Things were getting bad; they'd been flying for about an hour, and even though Katara had gotten back the majority of her mobility and bending, it seemed like she was too late to do much for Teo. Appa was stained with his blood, which the three water-benders quickly cleaned up as fast as they could. Teo had passed out about an hour ago, and hadn't stirred so much as once since. Katara was crying silently onto Aang's shoulder, while he smoothed her hair over and over again. Toph and Sokka were on Appa's head, with Sokka steering and Toph behind him, head laid on his shoulder. Wren wondered if there was anything between the two. Haru was sitting close to Teo, looking into the distance with a grimace, rubbing his battered arm. Wren and Zuko were sitting at the very back of Appa's saddle, looking on the scene with a sense of quiet remorse and guilt; they didn't belong in this scene of grief. They didn't know Teo.

The Temple was between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, sitting on an island between the two. The group had decided that going to a Fire Nation healer was too risky - but the nearest Earth Kingdom town on the continent not inhabited by Fire Benders was at least a day and a half's travel inland, putting the entire mission off course. It took awhile to decide which was worse; a Fire-Nation town where things were so much more dangerous because of the absence of a sure-fire escape or the inhabited towns where the guards were so much more suspicious? The group eventually decided on a Fire Nation town instead of the inhabited ones. They had the disguises and Fire Nation clothing, and a real Fire-Bender to show them how to talk and act (though Zuko's presence would probably wouldn't do Teo much good). It was decided that Wren should go, who could Fire-Bend, along with Katara, who kept a level head, to the healers' while the rest of the group would lie in wait should something bad happen.

Wren...wasn't used to this. As soon as this was decided she was taken aside by Katara and Toph. The boys seemed to turn around in unison. Katara then traded clothes with Toph who changed into green clothes she dug out from a bag - Toph's clothes were a little baggy and a bit on the short side on Katara, and Wren was handed Katara's clothes.

"Um, what?"

"Put these on! Fire Nation yuppies don't wear green!" Katara told her, turning her back, letting Wren put on the clothes in what little privacy she could.

It was immensely difficult to change clothes on a flying bison. Wren fell a few times, once into Toph. When Wren was done, she looked down at herself and blushed. Katara wasn't that much bigger than her height-wise, but she definitely had a bigger chest than Katara. Her hips and chest stuck out oddly, making the outfit stretch. She blushed when Zuko turned around with his eyes closed.

"Are you done changing yet?" he asked the general area. "I'm supposed to give you advice on how to act"

"Yeah, We're done, Zuko"

Wren wished she wouldn't have said that. He opened his eyes and they went straight to Wren. And then straight to her...assets. His eyes widened infinitesimally before he could help himself. Then, he looked at Wren's forehead.

"The best thing to remember, is, uh, act natural and, uh, say you don't know how your brother - that's what he'll be, I guess - got injured, and uh, you found him...and...maybe put something...ah...on over...uh...yeah"

"Shut UP" Wren hissed at him, highly embarrassed, "_And get me a damn coat!_"

He shrugged out of his shirt and threw over to her in a somewhat violent manner with an embarrassed look on his face; he was even blushing.

"Take it"

"This is your shirt" was all she could say. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She couldn't CONCENTRATE when he didn't have his shirt on like that! Bah!

"Teo's getting worse! Just take it"

And with that, she did. With his shirt on, she didn't look remotely half-bad. Just poor. Zuko gave her his bag of money - much to her dislike - to pay for the service, and maybe afterward, a pair of clothes for Wren, Haru and Teo. They looked over to Appa's head - they hadn't before - and saw Aang half-way out of his clothes while Teo was half-way out of his thanks to Sokka. Wren turned around quickly, and Katara turned a little more slowly, eyes on Aang until it was physically impossible to do so. Toph didn't turn, and it bothered Wren until she remembered the girl was blind. It was so easy to forget that, sometimes.

After the whole changing-clothes process went down, the entire group, excluding Aang who was steering, was in the saddle. Katara was sitting next to Teo towards the middle, and Sokka, Toph, Wren and Zuko were huddled towards the back, not saying anything. Haru sat towards the front, all by himself. They rode Appa for another half-hour - at least they were over land now - before somebody said something.

"When are we getting there?" Haru asked impatiently.

"As fast as Appa can fly - he's going as fast as he can" Aang answered, stress evident in his tone.

"Make him go faster!" demanded Haru. His behavior since they left the Temple had been pulling on Wren's few nerves. He didn't seem to be able to shut his trap, or realize that his stress and lack of control of it wasn't making this already-horrible situation any better; it was only just past midday - how long had this day lasted?! - and already everybody was worn out and annoyed. Haru wasn't out to make this any better, apparently.

"Aang just said he's going as fast as he can - obviously there is no higher speed, Haru" Wren said shortly.

Aang glanced at her, conveying his thanks; Wren nodded slightly at him. Katara caught it, and swallowed audibly. Wren reached over and patted her hand. Katara looked up, shocked at the gesture. The two girls stared each other in the eye for a few seconds, before Katara flashed her a quick, wan smile and looked the other way. Zuko - still shirtless! - was looking at the two of them with his mouth open and his eyebrow drawn down in obvious confusion. Wren shook her head at him. She couldn't explain to him right now that she and Katara may yet be friends.

"I didn't ask_ you_" Haru told Wren as he turned to face her.

"Don't talk to her like that, she was only stating the facts!" Zuko countered before Wren could open her mouth.

"I don't recall bringing you into this either, _Mister Fire Nation_!"

"He's on _our side_ now!" Toph exclaimed, exasperated.

"We shouldn't trust him" Haru replied, obviously looking for a way to ruffle feathers.

"He's not the only one you shouldn't trust, with that mouth" Wren said through her teeth, shooting the smallest spark (okay, maybe not the smallest) over in the direction of his feet. He jumped when he saw it, and writhed away from the second Avatar with a look of disgust.

"You're a pretty foul Avatar, you know, even for a useless replacement"

"Hey! - " Zuko started.

"Okay guys! I think we're all exhausted, and worried, we all just need a little rest, and - " Aang started, but was interrupted by Haru.

"Rest?! I'm not the one who needs rest! Look at those two Fire-Benders, all holed up, making plans to bring the world down! It's them who - "

"Uh, guys..." Katara's voice sounded in the background, drowned out by Haru's bitching.

" - need to 'rest'! Rest for good, I say, all of them! What the Fire Nation did - "

"Guys!" Katara exclaimed louder.

" - to people all over the world! I mean, families have been torn apart! - "

"GUYS!" Katara screamed. Everybody turned to look at her. Even Haru, fists raised, and Zuko, hands balled up at his sides, turned and went quiet.

"Teo's not breathing" she said in a quiet, strangled voice.

"What?!" shouted Haru, rushing over to Teo and Katara as fast as he could with his injured arm.

"Come on, come on, Teo, breathe!" Katara cried out, tears streaming down her face.

She was trying to heal his wounds, but Teo still lay limp. Wren pushed her way over to sit next to Katara. She placed a hand over Teo's cheek - he was so cold! - and warmed her hands. She pressed her hands to Teo's face and arms but again, to no avail. Zuko, catching on to what Wren was doing, made to help as well. Katara was full-on sobbing, and Haru was sitting, looking dumbfounded, close to tears himself. Wren supposed that he and Teo had been friends. Such would be natural, seeing as they weren't in the original four.

The scene was too much for Wren to keep a straight face. She just_ couldn't_. She let the tears fall, landing on Teo's open, cold chest. Why was he dead?! Lightening that she hadn't meant to create was coursing around her hands because of the emotion, and she took them off Teo and held them to her face. Her emotions never got so out-of-control, but looking on this scene of grief was too much. Teo, obviously dead, Aang and Haru crying, Katara sobbing, Toph with her head between her legs so that you couldn't tell that she too was in tears, Sokka trying to keep it in and almost failing, Zuko doing the best he could to not join them in their sadness...it was too much.

She stood up - a dangerous move on Appa - to get away from the rest of the people; she felt like she would explode. She felt the lightening moving through her, surely and definitely. Appa was already pretty low...

"Aang...land us, please!!!..." Wren yelled.

Aang turned to look at her, lightening coursing around her, her face, her hands, poofing up her hair, and he immediately went to steer Appa down. Wren, still standing, almost fell but for Zuko who grabbed her by the hips and pulled her down. The uncontrollable lightening was jolting him a little bit at a time, but he didn't let her up until Appa had all six legs on the ground. Wren pushed Zuko off, and leaped out of the saddle, sliding down Appa's tail. She made sure Appa was off of the ground again before she let go completely.

She had never produced lightening such as this. She sobbed while it used her as a guide, jumping out to all directions. She hoped that Appa and the balloon that was attached to him were both safely away. Why did she feel so grieved over a kid she knew for all of two days? _Why?!_

Oh, but she knew. All of her own grief hit her at once; Teo's death was simply a trigger. Teo's was just another life added to the pile to protect the Avatar's or even the world. Everybody had been stolen away from her; her mother taken away because of what she was, her father died to protect his country, Shiro died to protect her from Fire Nation thugs...and now an innocent child had to die too? A friend, a son, a fellow human? Why, why, why?!

The lightening began to die down as she sank to her knees, sobbing. She didn't know when exactly it stopped, or why, but then next thing she knew was that she was being helped back onto Appa by Aang and Zuko. She was as limp as Teo - weak as anything. She couldn't take any more. No more death. No more fighting. No more, no more...she sagged into unconsciousness.

Wren woke up feeling physically ill. She jerked up and looked around. Light was just painting the sky as the sun rose, and there were bodies all around her, breathing quietly and peacefully. She looked down at who she lie the closest to; Zuko, still shirtless, was lying on his stomach, his arm extended towards her. She might have blushed, was there a reason to; this should be expected now. They were kind of Aang/Katara part two now, she guessed. Aang and Katara were sleeping on Appa's tail reasonably close to each other, as were Sokka and Toph, lying back-to-back in an Earth-tent. Haru, however, was sleeping at least twenty feet away from any of them, his back turned towards them. Wren made a face, and mentally shrugged. Let him suffer how he wanted to.

Wren felt bad for her outburst yesterday. She looked around as the light became more pronounced, and realized that they were in the same place she had exploded. There was no grass for about ten feet around the charred black circle where she assumed she had stood. She sighed; at least she hadn't exploded on Appa. Then they would all be in poor Teo's situation...speaking of...where is he? She looked around more closely, but there was no sign of the dead boy. Had they buried him already? She would have to ask, though somehow she knew they already had. She remembered the reason for her outburst yesterday and shuddered.

Because unfortunately for her, despite all the pain, despite all the suffering she brought unto other people, she still had to go on. There wouldn't be a point that she could rightfully stop at until the Fire Nation, and Fire Lord Ozai, were brought down. There will be more violence. There will be more deaths. It was inescapable. She shook her head slowly, unwilling to accept solid fact. There was just nothing she could do about it. So, to clear her mind, she got up and started cleaning up the fire-pit from the dead wood and ash from the fire that had been obviously raging the previous night, only to light a new one in it's place.

She wondered where they were going from here.


	14. Deal with It

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated as soon as I could have - but I moved out of my parents house! :] I've been super busy lately, I barely had time to jot down a few ideas! Crazy, huh? Well, hope you enjoy this chapter, now that I'm back on track. Oh, and btw, I LOVE comments. A lot. Let me know what you think, 'kay? ^^

Wren hadn't been cleaning for long when she heard somebody stir. She extracted herself from the ash and burnt wood and looked around; Aang was staring at her, still half-asleep. She wondered if somehow she'd woken him up.

"Are you okay, Wren? We were all worried about you last night" he asked, eyes darting to Zuko's sleeping form.

Wren doubted that _everybody_ was worried; Haru was probably in a worse mood than before, and who knew how Katara felt about her now? She sighed, happy that at least somebody other than Zuko was worried. She tried to imagine a worried Zuko and mentally laughed.

"I'm fine now, Aang...everything just...came down on me...it's hard" she tried to explain. _That won't make any sense_, she thought. But suddenly, Aang nodded thoughtfully and bended the air around him so that he spun towards her gracefully. He landed with a thump beside her.

"I understand that. I do -" he added as she looked dubious, "when I first realized that my people were all really dead, even Gyatso - because of _me_ more or less...I lost control, too. I almost blasted Sokka and Katara off of the mountain" he mused.

"I...I just don't know what came over me. All my life I knew how hard this was going to be, how hard it already was. Or, at least _I thought_ I knew. The war stole my father away, my mother taken, probably dead as well, because I was the Avatar! And even Shiro died trying to protect me. But it wasn't until Teo died...seeing your reactions...that I saw, I mean really saw, what working toward this end is really like. I always knew that this wasn't going to be child's play, but Teo might not have! And for him to die..." she trailed off, not knowing how to end, but Aang continued for her.

"It's almost too much of a price to pay, letting them travel with us. But I know I can't do this alone. I know that even we together couldn't do this alone. It kills me, and I know it kills you too, now, to put them all in danger but - "

"It's the only way" Wren finished. Aang simply nodded and looked at the rising sun.

"Exactly"

A silence fell between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Just two Avatars, watching the sun rise and paint the world with color. A few moments later, Wren whispered,

"I'm sorry"

"It's not your fault" Aang sighed.

"I'm still sorry. How well did you know Teo?"

"I barely did - but he was just so..._alive_! He had so much spirit that he could have been an Air-Bender if he'd been born when that was possible! It just isn't, isn't...**FAIR**!" he cried out suddenly.

Wren turned to him just as he turned to face her, tears brimming his eyes again. Ah, she knew it. He'd just been holding back, before. He really was still hurting. Before Wren knew what she was doing, she was pulling Aang into a hug. She gripped him to her fiercely. He laid his head on her shoulder and cried, trying to get ahold of himself, but failing. Again, this hug wasn't awkward. This felt brotherly. He was her younger brother and her older brother at the same time, supporting and comforting him, yet clinging to him for the same things. A few tears rolled their way down Wren's face, landing on Aang's bald head. He paid them no mind, letting them slide off of his scalp and be absorbed by the ground. Wren appreciated this; she wouldn't have liked it if he'd made a big deal about her crying.

As she held Aang to her, she remembered just how young he was. Twelve, maybe thirteen by now? Too young to be taking on so much. She sighed again, in part because she knew that by rights she should tell him to get out of this while he was so young, to let her handle it; she knew she was capable. But more than that, she sighed because she knew that she wouldn't ask him. And he would refuse anyway. She couldn't face this alone; she didn't know how she ever thought she could. At least they had each other for help.

She was so concentrated on her thoughts that she hadn't heard anybody else wake up, but suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. She jumped, going half-way into a fighting stance around Aang. But it was only Zuko. She looked up at him and beamed. His face, which had been confused, tense and a little irritated, melted in return. His small smile made her forget the boy in her arms. She stood up quickly, causing Aang to fall, but he caught himself. She gave him an apologetic look, and he returned it with a quick smile of his own. He blasted himself over to Appa where Katara still lie asleep.

She turned back to Zuko and found that her hand was already wrapped up in his. She stuttered to a halt; what was she supposed to do now? He was looking into her eyes, waiting. What should she do? Kiss him, hug him, say something, what? It's not like they were really dating - were they? But then he moved his face a centimeter down towards hers, and she jumped at the opportunity. She swung her other arm around his neck to pull him down the rest of the way, and gave him a jubilant kiss. Her hand around his neck flew to the part of his neck where his pulse was thudding away, and his found its way to the middle of her back. She smiled during the kiss, breaking it. Zuko looked down at her, a bit in a daze, and she shot him her widest smile. He reciprocated and squeezed her hand. Then, they let go of each other - all but the hands - and turned to catch Aang waking up Katara by levitating her up by a few feet.

She woke up with a scream, which woke up everybody else, and when Aang wouldn't let her down, the laughter started. Everybody but Haru couldn't stop chortling. Katara was irked (but not angry), and during the morning routine she let Wren help with breakfast. She even threw her a timid smile, though her face was still laden down with guilt and grief.

Though Wren hadn't seen Teo much, or even really had a full conversation with him, she felt his absence. It was a weight on the group; it seemed everybody felt the same way she and Aang did - though perhaps not exactly the same. Nobody had spoken to Haru yet, and he hadn't spoken to them. But after breakfast, Katara asked him if he could raise a quick counter for her to wash the dishes on since Toph was gathering firewood with Sokka, and he exploded.

" - EXPECTING ME TO DO _ALL KINDS OF CRAP_ WHEN MY ARM IS BUSTED THANKS TO_ YOU_, I CAN'T _BELIEVE_ YOU WOULD EVEN _THINK_ -"

"No! I only meant -" Katara started.

"NO, NO, KATARA! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU MEANT!"

"I'm sorry - " she tried to continue.

"EVEN THOUGH MY ARM GOT BROKEN TRYING TO DEFEND YOU, YOU JUST_ HAVE TO HAVE_ THIS DONE!"

"Stop yelling at her!" Aang interrupted, yelling it at Haru.

"Don't YOU yell at ME, Aang! You have NO RIGHT after what I did for you - "

"If I recall correctly, Haru, Toph _told you_ not to come because your bending needs work!" Wren yelled at him, too, tired of his crap.

"MY bending needs work!? Who can't even Air-Bend? And I can handle myself!"

"Obviously NOT" Zuko butted in.

And then they were all shouting at once. Toph and Sokka came running back, arms half-full of firewood, only to know immediately what was happening. They joined in yelling at Haru for his attitude and everything else. Suddenly, Haru yelled out, louder than anybody,

"ENOUGH!"

And with that, he turned away and stormed off.

"Haru!" Aang yelled after him.

"Forget it, Aang! If I'm so unwelcome here, I'm GOING!" he shouted back.

"You're not unwelcome, just difficult!" Toph yelled after him.

"I don't want to do this anymore, I quit! I don't want to go like Teo! Maybe you guys have no problem putting _your_ necks on the line here, but I DO" he shouted back, and then ran flat-out in the other direction.

"Where does he think he's going? We're in _the Fire Nation_!" Sokka asked in a half-shout, as was his normal volume. The rest of the group shrugged, and then split up, either going for more firewood, or going back to feeding Appa, or packing up the bedding. Wren raised a stone bench for Katara before she went back to helping Aang. They were all sure that he would come back; after all, he had nowhere to go. Any further and he would surely be arrested; he was still in his Earth-Kingdom clothes. So, they would wait. The day went by quickly, and somewhat boringly. Zuko was teaching Aang some Fire-Bending moves, Wren intersecting at times to help demonstrate or correct Aang on his stance. He wasn't getting it, poor kid. He was too afraid of his own power and strength. _At least he isn't Water Tribe_, Wren mused to herself, remembering all the difficulty she'd had with Fire.

It was getting dark, and Haru still wasn't back. the group figured that in the morning a few people would have to go on a search on Moose; Appa might be too noticeable. Wren looked away from Aang and Katara's planning to see Sokka and Zuko having a heated, though inaudible, conversation near the giant flying bison. Suddenly, Sokka smiled, patted a confused Zuko on the back and walked back toward the fire, trying to whistle. Wren sensed that something was off.

That night, Wren and Zuko curled up near Moose, but Zuko was restless. Wren wanted to ask what happened with Sokka, but kept her mouth shut; if he wanted her to know, he would have said something (right?). She awoke the next morning to find herself sprawled a few feet away from Moose; Zuko was missing. She looked around camp, and didn't see him there, nor did she see Sokka. What had happened last night?! Her heart really started pumping when she noticed that Azula's balloon was missing. Where was he?! She woke up Katara and Aang, sleeping next to Appa, who helped her in the search. Aang woke up Toph, who then started flipping out as much as Wren was. Wren decided that there was definitely something between Sokka and Toph. That's when Katara found a note telling them that they needed meat, and were going fishing.

"That's ridiculous!" Aang nearly wailed.

"Is it really, Aang? I mean, we are kind of running low on meat" Katara countered gently.

"But you guys don't need meat! And it's dangerous to go out, just the two of them! Why didn't they say something to anybody?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to know" Wren interjected, then proceeded to tell them about the weird incident the night before, and that she thought something was up. Everybody was quiet, looking into the distance.

"Well, if they say they're fishing, they're fishing" Toph said, finally. She was the only visibly relaxed person there. At her words, the remainder of the group melted.

"Should we still look for Haru?" Katara asked.

"I dunno..." Aang said uneasily.

"Well, obviously it'd just have to be one person to go, if we were still going to" Wren added, "There's just no way that I feel comfortable leaving the Avatar alone with one person."

"What if that person was you?" Toph asked.

"I don't think it would be..." Wren answered, looking at Katara. Her face proved that statement.

"It would be best if I went" Wren offered. The group was quiet. Deliberating.

"Not a good plan" Aang finally said.

"Why not? She's perfect" Toph asked.

"She's an Avatar"

"Nobody knows that" she countered.

"And, I can Fire-Bend. I can prove that I'm 'Fire Nation' if need be. I'm already in Fire Nation clothes...except I gave Zuko back his shirt last night..." Wren explained as she looked down. She had completely forgotten that until now. She groaned internally. She walked to one of Zuko's bags and dug through it before finding a red silk shirt. She tugged that on, and walked back over to the group.

"I'm also the best at riding Moose" she finished. the group didn't look happy, but they didn't object either as they realized that she was perfect, like Toph had said. She packed a small rucksack full of fruit and things (Sokka and Zuko were right - meat was sorely needed) and jumped on Moose. She scratched his head before setting off in the way Haru had left.

Moose had an excellent nose, so he was able to follow the trail rather quickly, though Wren preferred to keep him at a fairly quick saunter rather than a full-out dash, in case she missed something, or the energy was needed later. She and Moose were on the trail for a decent hour or so, according to the sun, when Moose suddenly slowed down, and walked in circles, sniffing.

"Don't tell me you've lost the trail already, boy" Wren murmured, patting his flank. But it looked as though he had lost the trail. After a few moments of aimless wandering, Moose laid down and started to get comfortable. Wren wrinkled her nose; worried. She looked around, squinting into the distance for she-didn't-know-what. Something! Where had Haru got off to that there was no scent? Moose had never lost a trace before, but then again, he had never tracked anything that was available to be taken by Fire Nation Soldiers, either. She yelled out in fury, and kicked Moose's flank, knocking him back into gear. She pulled at his neck-fur, and willed him to go as fast as his butt could take them back to the camp.

She rode into camp, still going what felt like the speed of light. Moose tried to stop but skidded, bringing up enough dust and dirt to cloud everybody's vision before finally stuttering to a halt. Wren hopped deftly off of Moose and stood before the dust cloud. Aang let out a blast of air that quickly took care of that problem. The group looked at Wren, single-handed, and worry crept into their eyes. Toph couldn't see, but Wren knew she could feel.

"I couldn't find him, the dumbass" Wren said angrily. How could she have let this happen?! She had let him go, and then didn't bother to look for him until the next morning! Some Avatar she was. One look at Aang told her that he was thinking the same thing. Katara wrapped him under her arm, where he sat dejectedly.

"At least this isn't our fault; Haru was just dumb enough to leave us in the Fire Nation - stupid mustached _dumbass_!!" Wren vented.

And with that, she started practicing Fire-Bending a safe distance away from the other three. It was the easiest element to practice in times of high emotion. Anger worked particularly well. After awhile of everybody else watching her do her stuff, Aang walked over hesitantly and started to go through the moves with her, but not producing any fire, or really trying to. She exhaled through her nose impatiently; it came out as steam.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Practicing without practicing" he answered.

"That's stupid"

"You're stupid"

"Your face is stupid"

Aang laughed. Wren laughed along with him. This wasn't as hard as Teo's death; Haru under the best circumstances had been picked up as perhaps mistaken for a Fire-Colony brat, and taken to the nearest village. Under the worst circumstances, he would be either transported back to the Earth Kingdom or put in a low security prison. Either way, it wasn't too terrible. Certainly nothing Haru hadn't asked for when he knowingly left the Avatar's camp. Wren didn't feel guilty for Haru like she did for Teo. She was already past it.

"Maybe try _making_ fire next time you try a move" Wren suggested.

"Nah. Not now"

"Mind if I ask why?" Wren asked, resuming her training.

"I'm...a little afraid of it" he admitted sheepishly.

"Anybody could see that, Aang, from the way you were training with Zuko yesterday. You're afraid of your own strength. But don't worry, out here there's nobody but little old me over here, and I bet I can deflect anything you can throw at me" she smirked, teasing him. A look came into his eye, as if this just dawned on him.

"How do you do it?" he asked tentatively.

"Like this" she said. She showed him.

"Yeah but...how?"

"I can't explain. It comes from your own energy, your own emotion. If you concentrate, you'll find it"

"What if I can't?"

"I'm Water-Tribe, and I managed. Don't worry, it's like riding a Giant Coy Fish - once you find your energy, you never have to_ find it_ again; you never forget where it is"

After about a half-hour of concentration, Aang's hand sparked.

"I got it!" Aang exclaimed.

"And you can find your way back?" she asked. He closed his eyes, and his hands sparked again. He beamed.

"Told you, kiddo"

The problem was, sparking was all Aang could do. By the time both Avatars were tired, it was dusk, and everybody was tired from training. Katara and Toph had been sparring for most of the afternoon. Wren lie awake, worrying about Aang and his Fire-Bending, and Zuko and his absence. She just knew that there was something more to it. there had to be; Zuko didn't seem like one to just randomly go fishing in the wee hours of the morning. And though she hardly knew him, she knew that Sokka didn't wake up early, either. She tossed and turned until she finally fell asleep.

When she awoke the next morning, everything went down the same way. Wren sensed a tradition between the three. Wake up, feed Appa, gather some food, Katara cooks, they all eat, Water-Benders wash dishes, Earth-Bender puts them away while the rest put away the bedding, and so on and so forth. Wren liked this, oddly. It reminded her of her youth with Shiro, only it was a lot more fun and relaxed under Katara's reign - if you could say _relaxed_. She tried to teach Aang some more Fire moves, but his body didn't seem to want to make more than a handful of fire, which was as far as they got.

The most curious thing happened, though; the first time Aang had made an actual fire, Wren's hand - which had been raised in mid-stance, curled in on itself and pain shot through her arm and torso. She yelled out in pain, and at first, Aang thought stupidly that he burned her. She couldn't explain it, but the second Aang had let go of the fire he held, the pain dropped off. She stood to shake it off, confused but okay. Nothing else much happened that day, except Toph beat the crap out of her after she and Aang had their lesson.

The third day was even worse. All she could do was sit and worry. Where was Zuko? Where was Sokka? Were they okay? Were they really fishing? Where were they? Shouldn't they be back by now? Why weren't they back by now?! Did they get captured, was Azula still alive, was she involved? Azula's absence from the ledge bothered her; had somebody kicked her off the cliff, or had she managed to get up and get away? She hadn't seen Mai's body either, she was sure. Would Aang have let that happen? She didn't want to ask. But Zuko! Where was Zuko?! She could think of nothing else all day. She wasn't even up for sparring, which was not normal for Wren; she was one for action. But all she could do was sit, watch the others, and worry.

And finally, _FINALLY_, on the fourth day, they came back. But from the second Wren saw what they arrived in, she knew that there was no 'fishing trip'. She _knew_ it was something else! Zuko and Sokka had arrived in a Fire Nation War Ship.

"SOKKA!" Toph shouted, running toward him, arms wide. He accepted her hug, and then looked at his sister and Aang, sheepish.

"You went fishing...and found that?" Aang asked dubiously.

"No, you idiot, I told you something was up! Where did you go? Did you know how worried I was?" Wren yelled at Aang, then pointing her anger and relief at Zuko more than Sokka.

And then they explained the story. The two geniuses had gone to the Boiling Rock prison, disguised themselves as guards, but the idiot Sokka let Zuko get caught (!!!!!), but then hatched an escape plan.

"But that's not all, guys" Sokka said jubilantly, "Look at the 'fish' we caught!"

And with that, two people walked out of the War Ship, as if on cue. A girl in red rags with short brown hair, and a tall man dressed much the same. There was also three other people in the background, but after saying a short round of 'thank-you's' and 'we-owe-you-one's', they scarpered, heading toward the Earth Kingdom continent instead of inland.

"**Dad**!" Katara yelled, jumping at the man while the three were saying thank-you to Sokka, whereas Aang yelled out,

"Suki!" and gave her a hug as well. After the general hugs and banter were done with - leaving Wren and Zuko as the odd ones out - the two introduced themselves as Hakoda and Suki, Katara and Sokka's dad, and Sokka's girlfriend. Wren raised her eyes at this, while Zuko suddenly found the clouds very interesting. Aang and Katara were equally staggered, but also said nothing. Suki grabbed Sokka's surprised hand and kissed his suddenly-pale cheek, while Toph's mouth fell open and her blind eyes bugged, unnoticed by anybody but Wren.


	15. Confusion all around

A/N: Ah, chapter fifteen. I'm finally getting off of Zen (Zuko + Wren - I think it's better that Wruko lol) a little bit. More Tokka/Sukka. Fun fun. ^^ Comments are most welcome :]

Wren didn't know what to say, nor did anybody else. Even Sokka's dad was quiet, sensing the discomfort of everybody else. The only person unaffected by the tense atmosphere was Suki, who was resting her head on Sokka's shoulder with a small smile on her face. Wren tried to catch Zuko's eye, but he was still looking up, probably pretending he was somewhere else, and not in this awkward place. Wren didn't blame him. She wanted to let Sokka and Toph be alone to figure this out; but apparently in this group, alone was NOT how one figured things out. Toph exhaled loudly, now narrowing her eyes in Sokka's general direction.

Sokka looked over Suki's head at her apologetically, widening his eyes, raising his eyebrows and nodding towards Suki slightly, indicating that he had no idea what was going on; but Toph couldn't see that, of course. But Toph's grimace just became more pronounced, sensing the jump in his heart rate just as Wren had. She let go of Zuko's hand and marched over to Toph, and reassuringly touched her shoulder.

"Let's go get some food" she suggested, breaking the heavy silence. The group mumbled in general agreement. It was just about dinner time, according to the movements of the sun and Wren's belly. She helped Katara light the fire, and pulled out the last of the meat to be cooked. The group was mulling around the fire, talking about the trip and the prison. But Wren, and everybody, saw that Sokka and Suki were wrapped up in their own little world. Suki was all smiles and giggles, but Sokka was more reserved for once, trying to keep a bit of distance between their foreheads and knees. Wren could tell he was all kinds of uncomfortable.

When the rabbit was done being cooked, Katara split it up into eight pieces and served it with some potatoes they'd found nearby. The meal went fine until Suki and Sokka were done eating; then something really happened. Suki reached over despite Sokka's slight pulling away, and planted a kiss on his lips. Sokka's eyes didn't close, but crossed trying to look at Suki in surprise. Suddenly, Toph called out,

"Katara! Can I borrow your shoes?"

Everybody looked at Toph with weird expressions. Even Sokka and Suki.

"But...you have shoes" Katara stuttered, confused.

"Well, I want to wear yours, so can I wear 'em?"

"But I don't want the bottoms torn out"

"I won't tear them out" Toph replied softly.

"But then you won't be able to see" Katara clarified, still wondering what on earth was going on.

"That's the point" Toph said so quietly that Wren was sure that nobody had heard but her, and that was only because she was sitting next to her. Katara seemed to get the point from her face, because her expression collapsed into one of pity.

'Uh...yeah, Toph, here" Katara complied softly. She tugged off her shoes and slid them to Toph. Toph tugged them on, and then tried to walk off. She tripped a bit over a rock, but then finally got far enough away from everybody to make a stone tent, shutting them all out.

"What's _her_ problem?" Suki asked innocently. Nobody answered her.

After dusk started to fall, Wren couldn't hold in her questions anymore. She _had_ to know why Zuko hadn't told her about the Boiling Rock trip, or taken her at least. She pulled Zuko's hand, meaning to take him away from camp for a bit of privacy (this couple stuff was embarrassing enough without everybody looking at you). But she ended up going a little ways further than out of camp. They ended up in the middle of a small patch of woods, not forty yards from camp. She looked around; the trees here were pretty climbable, and awfully tempting. Acting on a random whim, she started to climb a tree, indicating that Zuko should follow. He looked at her like she was an idiot from the ground.

"What?" she asked him.

"I can't...I can't climb trees"

"So you can climb Appa and watch towers and everything else, but not trees?" she laughed.

"What's so funny? Trees are weak; Appa and watch towers and stuff won't break and leave you falling if you put your foot in the wrong place" he explained, eying the tree trunk with suspicion. Wren laughed.

"Come on, little coward, climb up with me"

And with that and a huff of indignation, Zuko climbed the tree, but stayed on the bottom-most branch, legs curled around the trunk. Wren perched herself on a branch two feet above him.

"So what did you drag me up here for?" he asked. Wren hesitated, but Zuko reached up and wound his hand in her hair - it was hanging about a foot above his face - and started running his fingers through it; urging her to spill.

"Why didn't you tell me about the Boiling Rock thing? And better yet, why didn't you take me with you?" she blurted out. Zuko's face went blank.

"Is that all?" he asked, surprised.

"What else would there be?" she countered, slightly irritated that she had to say this aloud.

"I dunno..." he mused, looking straight at her still. He stayed silent for a few moments, his mouth clamped tightly shut.

"Well?" she prompted impatiently. Zuko let out a huge breath of air and began talking quickly.

"Well, I didn't want to drag you into it! That's why I didn't wake you up and take you with me. And I didn't tell you because when we were both awake, I didn't really think he was going to do it. Not that night, anyway. And besides; you would have wanted to go. I couldn't let that happen"

"Why not? Do you think I'm incapable of handling - ?!" she started, insulted.

"No, no. You're capable of taking on a lot. I know you are. It's just that...there was a chance, a good chance, that we wouldn't have made it out of there, and I couldn't...I couldn't risk you that way, okay?! Happy now?"

Wren was shocked at his words. She had had no idea that he felt that strongly for her, that if there was a slight chance that she could be hurt he wasn't going to take it. His reason for not taking her was ridiculous, of course - because with her there, the chances of getting caught _would_ have been just that - slight. _And_ she could have protected them to the ends of the Earth, being an Avatar - but still, his caring touched her.

"Yes"

Zuko started to climb down from the tree, but Wren felt something ambling toward them through the tree trunk - it was light, just a pitter-patter, but it was there. She grabbed Zuko's wrist automatically and held him there. He looked at her, about to ask, but he saw her finger raised to her lips. She knew that gait now - it was Toph, working her way towards them - she was just in Wren and Zuko's view now...and Sokka, too! Aw, _crap_! They needed to get out of here, now! But then the pair stopped. Sokka had grabbed her shoulder. She shook off his hand. Wren groaned inwardly and saw Zuko do the same. They didn't want to be here! They didn't want to see this!

"What are you doing here, Sokka?!" Toph's voice called loudly; she sounded surprised and unsteady. She must still have the shoes on, which would explain why she didn't know that Wren and Zuko were there. Her voice carried loud and clear to them. The chances of them getting away unnoticed were slim to none, now. Toph could hear better than she could; it was a miracle that Toph didn't know they were there already just by their breathing.

"Toph, Suki is _not_ my girlfriend" Sokka tried to explain, but Toph snorted.

"Okay, that's why she couldn't move away from your lips the whole time after dinner!" Toph shot back at him. He bristled.

"No, no, Toph! No! Suki...Suki used to be, well, kind of like a girlfriend, I had a crush on her, but then we left Kyoshi, and I met Yue - "

"_Yue_?! Who's _Yue_?! How many _other_ girls don't I know about, Sokka?!"

"Just those two! I swear!"

"Riiiight"

"...Well, after Yue turned into the moon - "

"A likely story" Toph muttered.

" - we went along our travels, and then we - I - met you...well, this is the first time I've seen her since the Serpent's Pass!"

"Oh, yeah! The Serpent's Pass! Didn't she kiss you then, too?"

"...she tried"

"You know what, Sokka? If she's not getting the message that you don't want her, which to me, it sounds like that's what you're trying to tell me, then you're obviously not sending it!"

"That's not true! Toph, that night after the Day of Black Sun...you know that what I said was true"

"But we're still not together, but apparently you and Suki ARE"

"Then _say it_, Toph! Tell me, right now, that you don't want me with her, that you want me to be yours, just say the word, and I'll end it with Suki, permanently. I'll even make sure you're there to see it! Tell me what you never said that night, what you 'couldn't' say!"

"But Sokka..."

"Just say it. If you like me so much, tell me. Just say the three little words! Don't make me keep guessing at whether or not you love me"

There was nothing but silence.

"Fine, Toph. If you don't want me, I'll go find somebody who does" Sokka said quietly, and then turned and walked off toward camp.

He was long gone by the time Toph whispered, "I love you, Sokka" and then she started to cry. She was crying softly, but there were still tears.

Wren couldn't believe her ears. What? _What?!_ Toph and Sokka? Secret relationship? A relationship could be a SECRET in this group?! She was amazed at that alone. Toph got up a few moments later, and wandered in a different direction than the one Sokka had just stormed off in.

Wren and Zuko merely looked at each other, wide-eyed; this wasn't good, not good at all. For them, Wren supposed that it really didn't matter one way or another where Sokka's affections went, but she was really starting to like Toph. As tough as she knew Toph to be, the fact remained that she was still human, she still had feelings. How dare Sokka do this to her! Wren started to curse him on Toph s behalf. So she hadn't said out loud how she felt - so what? She'd never formally admitted to liking Zuko, and he never did, either. But she knew it was true. Of course it was true! She and Zuko didn't need to exchange trite words to know how exactly they felt about each other, though Wren supposed that they were nice to hear every once and awhile. In that instant, she was bothered by the lack of admissions. Wren s eyes slid sideways and down toward Zuko, while his were searching for hers. They stared at each other for a few seconds before blurting out at the same time,

"I like you!"

And then,

"I know"

Then they laughed at the moment. It was silly, needing to hear the words out loud like that, but having heard them, Wren knew just a little how Sokka felt. She wouldn't be able to imagine how miserable she would be if Zuko maybe/maybe-not liked her. Or if he acted like he did, and never reinforced his actions. That would be miserable - but still, from the moment in the tree before, she knew how hard it was to say something like that to somebody - she knew how Toph felt, too. But Toph had obviously gotten angry about Suki, had run away, had even put on shoes to avoid the scene...even a true idiot would fail to see how much she liked him. And Sokka was only half an idiot. But sometimes, Wren supposed, a relationship needs to be made of more than notions and obvious actions. Her relationship worked fine so far because neither she nor Zuko needed to hear everything, but maybe others did.

But then again, this wasn't any of her business to begin with.

She helped Zuko down from the tree, and they walked back to camp hand-in-hand. Zuko was attempting to whistle (and failing miserably, but Wren liked it anyway), but she was wrapped in her own thoughts. Toph and Sokka, Sokka and Suki...how bleh. How very stupid this all was! People should be able to be with the ones they want to be with. Once they walked into camp, however, all thoughts of Toph and Sokka vanished. She had walked in on Aang, Katara and Hakoda planning strategy, with Suki lounging in the background. Wren and Zuko sat down immediately to help plan.

"So, we leave out of here day after tomorrow, day after that at the latest, and...and..."

"Go where, Aang? This area is pretty secluded. We should just stay here"

"But you can't practice, Katara. Unless you want to keep on using your Bending Water?"

"I don't mind, really"

"So, you telling me just this morning that you hated it was just crazy-talk?" he teased, and Katara smirked back.

"Well, it would be nice to have somewhere big to practice" she admitted.

"Then can we go to the beach? It shouldn't be too far south of here. You can almost smell the salt air" Zuko stated.

"That might be an exaggeration, but Zuko s right; we're fairly close to the shore still, maybe a day's ride, and this isn't a popular place in the Fire Nation seems pretty desolate to me. I'd wager wherever we set down would be just as uninhabited" Wren added in.

Aang and Katara nodded along, while Hakoda seemed to be observing more than acting. Wren liked this; she wasn't sure if he was going to get all bossy-parent-y or what. But Hakoda just sat still, and watched his daughter strategize. But Wren did notice that his gaze flickered to her every once in awhile, and more so to her hand, still clasped in Zuko's. She hoped he wasn't mad about Zuko; she didn't need to deal with anybody else's drama right now. There was a silence as the plan finalized. Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after, they would leave to find the shore-line, since they had nowhere to go for another few weeks.

"So, you're an Avatar, huh?" Hakoda asked, finally speaking. He was still looking at the ground, but it was implied that he was speaking to Wren.

"Uh, yes sir" she said, unable to refrain from calling him by a respectful name; his aura demanded it.

"Funny that the beginning of the fall of the Fire Nation is holding hands with its crowned Prince" he said coldly, looking now directly at Zuko.

"He's not like that anymore. Obviously." Wren said shortly, now more able to refrain from her respectful tenor, but unable to completely.

"What's he like, then?"

"He's good" Aang said, his tone clipped as well. Wren was happy that somebody else was going to defend Zuko. He didn't deserve to be patronized by some random

"Looks like he needs to prove it"

"Has he not proven it enough? If Toph and I can tell he's telling the truth, if I trust him enough to be with him, obviously he can be trusted. An Avatar's judgment is a powerful thing, last I checked" Wren replied coldly to his cold statement.

"Katara...what do you think?"

Everybody looked at her, on pins and needles. If Katara said that she trusted Zuko, this incident could be entirely avoided. Wren knew that Hakoda would listen to his daughter's judgment, as he hadn't listened to her own. But if Katara said that she didn't trust him...Hakoda wouldn't leave Zuko alone; that much was obvious. Not that Wren would tolerate that.

"I...I think that Zuko has good in him, but as far as trusting him goes..."

"Katara..." Aang started to wheedle.

"No, Aang. Listen to me. I know that dear Zuko has had problems with doing the right thing in the past. And I know he's telling the truth now - or at least he thinks he is. But when it comes right down to it...I don't trust you as far as I can throw you, Zuko" she explained icily, standing up.

And with that she walked away, toward Appa, who was already asleep. Aang looked at Zuko, at a loss for words. But Wren knew what to say.

"I have faith in you, Zuko, and I know Aang does, too, or he wouldn't have let you stay. We know that you're truly on our side" she comforted him. He smiled weakly at her, but his smile didn't match his eyes.

With one last half-glace half-glare, Hakoda retreated to the Earth-tent that Toph or Aang must have made for him, while his daughter and the Avatar slept on Appa - though now on opposite sides. Wren squeezed Zuko's hand, and they retired to bed. Zuko fell asleep against Moose very quickly, snoring just a little bit, but Wren stayed up until she felt Toph stumble back to camp. She hopped up, and headed toward Toph.

"Toph!" she whispered. Suddenly, a section of rock flew up from the ground, a few feet behind and to the right of Wren. Ah. She must _still_ have on the shoes.

"It's just me" she said quickly, reassuring her that she wasn't Sokka.

"Oh, sorry" Toph whispered.

"It's all good...it's just...uhm...how are you?"

"What do you mean?" Toph asked suspiciously.

"You know...you and Sokka, Suki being here..."

"How did you know about that?!" Toph asked, half angry.

"I think everybody knows now, since they saw your face earlier today..." Wren said, trying to break it to her now rather than later.

"...Oh. I thought...well, nevermind"

"That I saw you in the woods?"

"What!? I knew somebody was there!"

"Yeah...Zuko and I were talking, and we couldn't go anywhere...and I just wanted to tell you - "

"That was none of your business! How dare you listen to my conversations - "

"I didn't try to overhear you! If anybody was sneaking up on anybody, it was you! Though, I'm very sure it was unintentional"

"Damn right it was. How much did you hear?"

"Just about everything...sorry again. I didn't want to, but you would have killed me if you'd have known I was there"

"And what makes you think I'm not going to kill you now?"

"Because then you won't hear my advice"

"I don't need your advice! I carry - "

"your own weight, I know. I've already heard it - "

"How?"

"You said it just this morning"

"Oh"

"Do you want to hear what I've got to say or not?"

Toph was silent, but she knew that this was an acknowledgment.

"You're too prideful, Toph. You won't admit to Sokka how you feel probably because you're afraid he might not feel the same way, or that it'll somehow make you weaker to admit that you love somebody! Come on now, I've only known you for a few days and I know that much - "

"And Sokka's known me for a few months now. So why doesn't he get it?"

"Because one, he's a guy. They don't look inwards too much. Two, it's Sokka. He might be good with ideas and plans and the way things work, but I don't know how well he understands your prideful-ness. Believe me, I'm prideful, too. I don't know if that's the reason you didn't tell him, but imagine yourself in his shoes for a moment. I'm assuming he told you that he liked you on the night after Day of Black Sun?"

"Okay, now you're just going into things that just aren't your business" Toph said irately.

Wren waited.

"...but yes"

"Why didn't you say it back?!"

"I was about to, but then Aang asked what we were up to! And I haven't really gotten the chance to - "

"But you're alone with him a lot"

"But...but...yeah, and...it's just...ahg! Shut up!"

"Just tell him how you feel. It shouldn't be too late"

"What if he rejects me?" Toph asked, worry racking her tone.

"Do you think he will?"

"I...I don't know"

"Look at it this way - if he rejects you, which I don't think he will after coming after you like that tonight, at least you'll never wonder what could have happened" And with that, Wren turned to go back to Zuko. As far as she could sense, Toph didn't move for a long time, except to slowly take off Katara's shoes.

"Good morning, world!" Aang shouted at the top of his lungs. Wren started, as did Zuko. Both went half-way into battle stances before realizing that it was just Aang being Aang. He was standing, hands on his hips and his chest out, beaming a huge smile, while everybody else was looking at him like he was the plague. It was the morning, the entire sun just over the horizon. Wren rubbed her eyes.

"What the hell, Aang? It's too early to be shouting!" Toph yelled at him. The rest of the group laughed, and started to wake up. Sokka tried to go back to sleep, but Toph sent a rock-pillar up from the ground that knocked him in the back and forced him to his feet. His sleeping bag fell off and he started mumbling incoherent phrases grouchily. Wren shot a smile at Toph before remembering the girl was blind. Suki, on the other hand, shot Toph a glare and put her hand on Sokka's shoulder. But Toph wasn't having that. She curled the earth around Sokka's feet and pulled him toward her, out from Suki's grasp. The pull from the earth - _somehow_ - knocked Suki down on her ass. Wren put a fist in her mouth to keep from laughing. Toph reached up and brushed some dirt from Sokka's shoulder, who looked quite awake now, and confused, and laid her hand on his face. She then leaned around him to smirk at Suki, who was glaring and frowning at Toph from the ground. She got up as dignified as she could, and stormed off in a random direction.

Wren looked at everybody else to see who else had caught this. The entire gang was had been watching this like a foot-tennis match.

"So...breakfast, anybody?" Aang asked loudly. The group responded in a chorus of overly-enthusiastic '_yeah_'s, and '_I'm starving!_'s.

Over breakfast, Aang announced his plans.

"Okay guys, you know I've been training a lot lately, but I still don't feel like I've truly mastered anything but air. I'd like to try to master things from now on. And I have two Fire-Bending masters with me here, so that element...well, once I get past my, er, reservations, of it, I should be fine with that"

"You mean one Fire-Bending master. I'm good, but..." Wren interjected.

"Come on, you can make _lightening_! And your fire is really bright, and I've heard that that's a mark of a very skilled _hotman_" Aang chirped. Zuko had his mouth full, so he patted her hand and nodded. Wren rolled her eyes. It was flattering, but _really_.

"Well, since you've mastered Air, I'd like it if I could take some lessons from you" Wren replied. Aang simply nodded.

"So did you want to start after breakfast?" Zuko asked Aang, his mouth finally clear.

"Yeah! The sooner the better, I think"

And so after breakfast, they got started. Aang was still a little nervous about Fire-Bending, so he started off with some Earth. Wren stretched, limber as ever. She didn't want to cramp up again, like the last time she had really trained.

"So, Twinkle-Toes, you ready to learn a new move? I made it up myself" Toph asked him. He nodded happily. Toph proceeded to bring up a huge stone, break it up into long shards, and then threw them just so, so that they pinned all of Aang's clothes to the ground. She then removed them.

"It's a fairly advanced move, because you have to be precise enough not to kill them, but I suppose sometimes that doesn't matter" Toph joked.

Then Aang started to try it. Wren wasn't paying attention to him; Zuko was holding her in a stretch position when it happened; the same pain as the day before yesterday attacked her hands. She screamed as the veins in her arms bulged from her arms, her fingers curled into talons, her nails cutting her palms, and her elbows locked in. Her knees gave out and soon she couldn't think about anything else until it suddenly went away. Everything was black, and she realized that her eyes were closed. She opened them, and let her arms go limp. She was breathing like she'd just had the battle of her life, and everybody was crowded around her, worried. Katara had water at the ready. Zuko helped her sit up. She was still panting.

"What _was_ that?!" she asked nobody in particular. They all shrugged.

"Was it the same as before, the same pain?" Aang asked frantically. She nodded.

"_What pain?_ When before?! What happened?!" Zuko barked at Aang.

"She was helping me Fire-Bend, and I finally was able to make Fire and then she screamed..."

The group was quiet for a minute while Wren caught her breath.

"I hate to point out the obvious, guys, but Aang made a break-through with his Fire-Bending, and something happened to Wren. And now Aang's made a break-through with his Earth-Bending, and the same thing happened. There might be a pattern here" Toph said worriedly. Wren's breath caught - if this happened every time Aang made a break-through...his becoming a master could mean the end of the second Avatar. She didn't know how much of that pain she could take.

"What do we do?" Zuko asked Aang, who looked bewildered.

"I don't know! I'm not experienced in this!"

"Who IS, then?"

"I don't know, Roku, maybe?!"

"Then ask him!" Zuko barked out again. Aang looked at Wren.

"Feel like going to the Spirit World?"

"Sure" she replied shakily, remembering her last experience all too well.

So the pair sat down and concentrated. Aang had his hands in his lap, so Wren tried to copy him. She had just about as much luck concentrating as last time. She opened her eyes to look at Aang, and his eyes and tattoo were already glowing profusely; he was already gone. The group was looking at her expectantly. She clamped her eyes shut, and struggled with herself. She couldn't find the path to the spirit world. If she imagined it, it was a path with a door at the end that she couldn't unlock. There was nothing there but the great, closed door. Suddenly, Aang came back to himself.

"Where were you?" he asked her.

"I'm trying, but I just can't seem to open the door!"

"That's weird, it's always open for me"

"What is?"

"The door"

"I just made the door up" she said impatiently.

"No, the path to the spirit world is kind of like a door with a really bright light behind it. It takes me awhile to go through, but I've never seen it closed"

"What are you talking about?" Toph asked.

"Oh, the path to the Spirit World is short, but just before you see a kind of door, and then you're there"

"So I didn't just...imagine it?"

"No...and you said it was closed?"

"Yes"

"But you went through it before"

"Yes"

"What was different that time?"

"You two were holding hands" Katara said grudgingly. Aang looked at her, and extended his hand. She took it with a glance at Katara and Zuko. And within a few moments, Wren was whisked away through the now-open door.

Aang did the same thing as before, and Roku appeared the same way as well. He was still outstanding in his dignified manner, so royally powerful, even in death.

"What can I do for you now, my two Avatars?" he asked.

"Well...every time I do something new in my training, Wren is hurt. And she can't get through to the Spirit World on her own, either. We were wondering...why that is?" Aang asked.

But Wren already knew the answer.

"My guess is that the original Avatar is the stronger, and he will 'win out'"

"What about me? What's going to happen?!"

"My dear Wren, I'm not sure. Maybe you'll lose your bending? Maybe it's just going to be painful? No one can be sure"

"Gee, thanks"

"The only advice I can give, is to see what you can do. You may not be able to claim powers that Aang has already completely possessed, so try going into the Avatar State, and learning Air-Bending to see if you can. That may point you in a more knowledgeable direction. Find the boundaries of what you can and cannot do"

"Thank you, Roku" Aang said, bowing. Wren bowed as well, and the next thing she knew, she was returning to her body, gasping.

"So?!" Zuko asked, helping Wren up.

Aang and Wren looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"We don't know, Zuko. We just don't know"


	16. Sacrifices

A/N: Sorry for the delay ^^'' I've been out and about a lot lately (excuses, excuses). I know the end of the last chapter was a bit rushed, so I'll try to slow this one down a bit - but not so that it drags. Enjoy! Oh, and please comment. They make me happy. I don't care if you don't have anything really important or insightful to say (not that it's always nice when you do ^^) - I just like the feedback ^^ 

And also, I'm a little unsure about this chapter. I like it, but I think there's room for improvement. The longer I'm kept from this story, the harder it is to write. I'm getting a bit too far into the relationship side of things, so expect more action the next time around, okay? And does ANYBODY know how they got from here (where they were at in the Southern Raiders) to Ember Island? I've been hitting that roadblock in this story, not wanting to make up a reason just in case there was a real one, you know? But I can't find any rhyme or reason to why they just showed up there in The Ember Island Players.

The group was tense. Nobody seemed to want to break the silence. The group had dispersed, creating a half-circle around the fire-pit. Zuko wouldn't let go of Wren's hand - not that she minded. No matter how irritated it made her feel, she needed the support of somebody who wasn't just thinking that they were losing a weapon. Indeed, Zuko would stand to lose more than that if she...if she...

She didn't even know how they had ended up in this whirlwind romance. One minute they were companions, friends; the next partners. But Wren couldn't deny that there had been tension between her and Zuko (possibly just her) from the beginning. One look and she liked what she saw. Even as the Fire Nation Prince, she had thought him too cute to be allowed, even if she had to kill him. And now he was holding her hand, all of Roku's words had spilled out of Aang's mouth eventually. 'Eventually' being as soon as Katara asked. Wren was still in too much of a stupor to think right.

Would she...die? Would she lose her bending? She wasn't sure which was worse! Well, death would be pretty bad, but to have lived a life of extraordinary power only to have it sapped away...it would be a miserable existence, at least until she got used to it, Spirits forbid. She shook her head.

"It's lunch time" she called out to the group. She figured that she had melted the tension before with a food call, perhaps it would work again.

"No, Wren. We need to talk about this" Sokka said seriously. Hakoda nodded silently behind him, Suki still hanging on Sokka's arm.

"What is there to talk about? I'm either going to die, lose my bending, or just be in so much pain every time Aang bends that I wished I were dead! What is there to talk about in that, what is there to do?!" she snapped. She felt bad for lashing out, but she was at her snapping point. She knew that there were things to be discussed, but she wasn't sure how calmly she could discuss her fate.

"Aang, you're already a master Air-Bender, and a damn fine Water-Bender. Your Earth-Bending needs work according to -" A faltering glance at Toph with an audible gulp - "well, yeah...but you're a great bender already. Maybe you shouldn't work on any moves, particularly Fire-Bending. Two Avatars is better than one" Sokka suggested.

Everybody was tense with this decision. Nobody liked the idea of Aang stopping his training, but nobody liked the idea of Wren's fate, either. It seemed like a good enough plan, but Wren knew better.

"And what, just ask both Aang and I to stop learning? To stop bending? Absurd" she countered as Aang nodded, seeming glad that somebody else was thinking it, too.

"At least until the war is over"

"Why?" Aang asked.

"I said it before, two Avatars make for a much bigger advantage than one. In fact, we have a complete surprise factor on our hands for once"

"But are two immature Avatars stronger than one fully-realized Avatar?" Wren asked, knowing already that the answer was 'no'. Not much was stronger than a fully-realized Avatar. Sokka started to answer, but Wren waved her hand and cut him off.

"So, should I stop training?" Aang asked Wren. She couldn't see him, but he knew he was asking her.

It was up to her. She blanched. It was all up to her - this massive decision, and he was placing it on her shoulders alone. She sighed, knowing the answer already.

"Aang...teach me how to Air-Bend. If I can, then we will stop training and work this out after the war. If I can't...I'll endure the pain, and help Zuko teach you Fire-Bending"

"Why?!" Zuko asked.

"Because if I can't Air-Bend then he's obviously stronger than me! And if we can prove one of us is stronger than the other, then the strongest should move on to fully realize our power - and I think since Aang is the original, well...I'm out of luck" she said, wincing.

"Have you ever tried Air-Bending?" Aang asked curiously.

"Once or twice - it didn't work out very well"

"I wonder if you can't Air-Bend because I've already mastered it?" he wondered aloud. Wren pondered this too.

She'd learned the elements one by one while Aang was frozen in ice - while he still only mastered Air. She'd mastered Fire-Bending quickly, more quickly than it was supposed to happen, perhaps because Aang had not tried to learn it for so long. They were pretty equal at Water and Earth, but she supposed if she had to say it, she was just a hair better - but she had accredited that to being a seasoned warrior, having trained in the elements her whole life while Aang had only been frozen in ice, knowing only Air.

"What about the Avatar State?" Katara asked, "Ever tried that?"

Wren shook her head, supposing that this was just another thing Shiro neglected to explain. She asked what it was, and it was explained shortly by Aang. It was also pointed out by Sokka that Aang was blocked from the Avatar State thanks to stubborn chakras or something like that, so perhaps Wren could take advantage of it. Aang decided that this experiment couldn't wait - and then Wren found herself in position to go into the Avatar State. She sat there for a long while, telling the others to go ahead and eat - she wanted to know if she could do this alone. They were almost done with their meal.

She found herself irritated that she wasn't the real Avatar. It had been bugging her, of course, since the first time Aang's name slid from Zuko's lips. But his existence just made everything so much harder. Why did he have to exist? Why did she? Why couldn't the world just fix _its own_ damn problems instead of relying on six kids to do it for them?! She was about to give up, but then she wasn't sitting on the ground anymore.

She was in a celestial world, full of Northern Lights and stars. There was a narrow pathway that she bounced down like it was nothing. She came to the end before she expected to - and saw a massive figure huddled there, hands enclosing a ball of light. The tattoos were glowing, and the body was pulsating with a gentle kind of light. And then, Aang's massive head looked up from the glowing sphere, and stared her down. She felt small. The figure reached out - and touched her forehead. She felt a shock run through her body, and suddenly she was possessed with a sudden power. A sudden desire to wipe out all enemies within sight consumed her, and she roared a silent roar as she thought of all their injustices - the giant Aang disappeared, and in his place was the world. It locked in on her bodies' location, but suddenly she was in her body, and unholy things were happening. She was tearing the place apart! She was shocked, but couldn't stop herself. Her body wasn't listening to her anymore. And then she couldn't move, thank the Spirits. She saw a familiar boy, though she did not recognize him, come close to her - how stupid of him! - and lean down towards her. He touched his lips lightly to her body's. The body wanted to rip him, tear him, blast him from the face of the Earth. His scar made his sins plain.

NO! She shouted at herself. She struggled and tried to fight herself. Her body looked around - its limbs were being held down by Earth. She was trying to stop it - it was going to hurt him! - but she was trapped in a little compartment inside her head, and she couldn't find the door -

"Wren" the boy said, eyes closed.

And she suddenly came bursting, falling, through the said door in her head. The Earth she'd been controlling fell, the water stopped roiling, the clouds turned a less worrisome shade of grey. She took a deep breath, and as she inhaled breath, her world came flooding back. She fell to her hands and knees in exhaustion.

Zuko. Zuko hadn't let go of her. And for his faith in her, she'd given him what? A near-death experience. She felt horrible, her chest heaved with a sob. Though her limbs felt shaky and weak, she turned and threw her arms around the brave, stupid boy kneeling beside her. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He could have been killed!

"Wren" he whispered quietly, just for her. Tears dripped their way down her face, and suddenly, hands were on her. Comforting, loving hands. The group, even Suki, was around her, smiling and patting her shoulders, Hakoda keeping his distance. Zuko's surprisingly gentle hand wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

"I could have killed all of you" was all she said. Hakoda had slipped in a snide comment, but Wren wasn't listening.

"Puh-_lease_, Wren. It would have taken more than that" Toph smirked. Wren was happy that Toph talked to her so easily, and slapped her shoulder (though it hurt). Maybe Toph had forgiven her for overhearing the night before? Hopefully.

"You hurt the camp more than anything" Katara said, looking around. The fire was out, the luggage - ready to be stowed away on Appa - was strewn across the camp, and Momo was flying around Appa's head, chattering like crazy. Wren sighed. Her friends - could she call them friends now? - were gathered around her, pleased at her recent progress.

"Did you feel any pain at all, Aang?...Aang?" she asked. She didn't see him in the loving group of friends. She looked wildly around, and saw him hunched over, a little behind Zuko.

"AANG!" she and Katara shouted at the same time. Wren launched herself up from her kneeling position and ran - unsteadily - towards him. Katara had gotten there first, but Wren took hold of the arm Katara wasn't caressing, and frantically felt for his pulse - it was unnaturally fast. The rest got there not what seemed a split-second after she did.

"Aang, tell me about the pain" Wren said in a rushed voice. He took a deep breath before answering.

"Vicious. Unending"

Dammit. Aang would feel it, too.

"So neither of you will make progress, we'll...we'll, uh...we'll just practice what we already know - that'll work, right? I mean, it should work! Right?" Katara asked, her voice rushed and thick with worry for Aang. Wren wondered if that's how Zuko felt when she had collapsed? It was possible - he wasn't the most adept at displaying emotion.

"But isn't the point of practice to progress?" Wren asked sardonically.

"Just bend to stay on top of your game. We'll discuss this after the war ends!" Katara all but shouted at Wren.

And that was that.

Wren thought it was a selfish decision. It was true, she loathed the feeling that Aang's progress induced, and she almost hated inflicting it even more. Nobody wanted to see somebody they loved be in that much pain, it was like a pain in and of itself. But that was hardly a reason for surrendering what she considered their only real advantage; a fully realized Avatar. This just wasn't going to work. She and Aang could stand a chance against Ozai, but she wasn't sure how well they would fair. Neither would be able to go into the Avatar State; Aang was limited because of his own problems and she couldn't go into that state and leave Aang in pain and therefore vulnerable. Without the Avatar State, she wasn't sure how this was going to play out. She sighed inwardly as she saw the obvious solution. Of _course_.

The group, after the decision was made, returned to camp to fix it up. Wren ate lunch quietly, with Zuko's hand still curled around hers. It was an awkward lunch - eating with one hand - but she didn't complain. Afterward, she noticed Katara and Aang walk a little distance away, just the two of them, under the pretense of collecting firewood. Soon, the horizon all but swallowed them. She smiled a bit; it's good that they were getting in some 'alone' time. She just hoped that they had better luck than she and Zuko had had last night. She turned and saw Sokka and Hakoda looking after them with their eyes narrowed.

"You let them be" Wren called loudly, so that they would hear her from across camp. They looked at her, startled. Sokka opened his mouth to say something when Suki came up from behind him and put her arms around his waist. Wren raised an eyebrow, almost daring him to say something about the happy couple immersed in the horizon. He shut his mouth. If she'd been closer, she might have heard the faintly audible snap she knew he made.

Unfortunately for Sokka, however, this was when Toph chose to follow Wren's advice.

"Sokka!" she shouted from another corner of the campsite, near Appa. He turned his head, almost doing a double-take in surprise.

"I've changed my mind!"

"A-about what?" Sokka asked, voice strangled, though it was clear from his tone that he knew exactly 'what'.

"You know what" she said slyly, shifting her way over to Sokka. Suki visibly tightened her arms around him, the look on her face souring somewhat.

"What does she mean? Sokka? What does she mean?" Suki asked impatiently.

"Oh," Toph said, now directly in front of them, "You haven't told her yet, Snoozles?"

"Haven't told me what?" asked Suki forcefully, ripping her arms from Sokka's waist and spinning him to face her.

"Uh, uh..." Sokka stuttered, at a loss for what to say.

"No need to be so shy" Toph said sweetly, turning Sokka ever-so-slightly to face her, and moving her face closer to his. Wren and Zuko exchanged a glance - the sweetness in Toph's voice was clearly fake, but they both knew the intentions behind it were real.

"Sokka!" Suki gasped, watching his and Toph's faces grow ever closer. He paid her no mind, his eyes closing a bit in response to Toph's proximity.

"You bastard, Sokka!" Suki just about shouted as Toph's lips touched his chin lightly.

"Get out of here, Fans, nobody asked your opinion" Toph said coldly.

But Suki had no such intention. She tackled Toph to the ground, only for a stone-pillar to materialize itself from the ground and throw her off. Toph should have sensed that, but Wren thought that her slowness was probably founded by Sokka's proximity.

Before anybody could do anything, Toph and Suki were doing what could be mistaken - from a distance - as a sort of dance. They were both clutching hands, trying to shove the other over. While Toph had some strength and Earth behind her, Suki was also a well-trained warrior. It would take more than a shove to topple her. Toph seemed to come to this conclusion too, because she suddenly stepped back from Suki, who fell at the suddenly lack of something holding her up, and kicked her heel into the ground, sending three smaller versions of the stone-pillars to knock Suki in the face, stomach and pelvis, and knocked her on her back. Sokka yelled in the distance, and fell to Suki's side.

But she wasn't knocked down yet. She whirled on the ground, kicking a foot out from under Toph, who stumbled at the weak attempt to trip an Earth-Bender.

"Guys!" Sokka yelled.

"Yes, darling?" Suki and Toph asked at the same time, both through their teeth. Suki's head snapped up to glare at Sokka, but Toph, being blind, did no such thing.

"Stop fighting! That's not the way to handle this!"

"She attacked me first" Toph said petulantly, letting just an ounce of her twelve years' worth of immaturity shine through. Sokka merely closed his eyes and shook his head infinitesimally.

"You guys should work this out between you"

"That's not a great idea, Sokka, seeing as she has nothing better to do than attack children" Toph taunted Suki.

"What did she mean?" Suki asked Sokka.

There was a lengthy silence.

"We need to go talk. All of us. _Privately_" said Sokka, glaring up at everybody still at camp, as if daring them to follow. And then the three got up and walked off in the opposite direction that Aang and Katara went.

"That was...eventful" Zuko muttered.

"Tell me about it" Wren joked back. She wondered if Toph would get what she wanted. She hoped so.

It was quite odd when both 'couples' came back at the same time, quite a few hours later. Apparently Aang and Katara hadn't known they were gone as long as they were, for it was long after dark. Sokka was in the middle of yelling at Aang when Katara stepped in with a '_well why did you get back the same time we did? Where were you?_'.

And that shut him right up. Suddenly, it was time for bed. Hakoda, still recovering from the injury he received during the invasion, had slipped out of consciousness some time after Sokka left. Whether it was voluntary, and whether he trusted her enough to mildly trust Zuko, Wren would never know.

Wren was setting up their pillows around Moose's paw - he was already zonked out - when she felt Zuko's hand caress her shoulder-blade.

"I know you're planning something, Wren"

"What do you think I'm planning, oh great Mind-Reader?" Wren teased, hoping that he was going out on a limb.

"You're not going to stop training" he guessed.

"Wrong" she breathed.

"Wren - " Zuko gasped, pulling her face around to look into his, "You're not thinking about - "

"What choice do I have?" she whispered at him fiercely, though in their quiet environment it may as well have been yelling.

"Go with the group's decision!"

"And forgo the ONE advantage we have? A fully realized Avatar is stronger than two kids who just know multiple elements, Zuko!"

"And you can go into the Avatar State, so you're like a realized Avatar together!"

"But then Aang would be vulnerable if I went into that state! And he would be dead, and then it would just be me!" Wren argued. Zuko was flummoxed.

"So you see how my decision is better? And how everybody else just doesn't want to see it?"

"Except maybe Katara" Zuko said in a low, defeated voice. Wren reached out and hugged him.

"I don't want you to feel like that" Zuko murmured.

"You won't even know. Just go to sleep"

"No, Wren. I...I can't deal with that! I can't just _go to sleep_ and it'll be all better! You'll still end up, well, something!"

"You don't have a choice!"

"Oh I don't? So I can't just call up Sokka and all those guys and tell them about the newest development?"

"You _wouldn't_"

"I would"

"Zuko, this is for the BEST! Can't you see that?"

"You don't have to die for the world, Wren!"

"You don't know that I'll die!"

"It's a possibility. Aang said it himself"

"I could just lose my powers" Wren tried to fight back, tried to make the idea sound better than dying. But she couldn't make her voice optimistic enough.

"You don't want to do it, either"

"Of course I don't! But I'm the Avatar, Zuko. And my duty is to the world first, myself second, and dammit I'm going to fulfill my duty!"

"You don't have to pull a Yue!"

"Hey - what? A Yue? What's a Yue?"

"Nevermind. Just don't, _please_"

"My mind is made up, Zuko"

She turned back to continue arranging the pillows, thinking she had won. But then Zuko said something that made her heart jump.

"Wren - it's either me or this crazy plan of yours"

She whipped around to see the look of unadorned hurt on Zuko's face. She could see what it had cost him to say that - he must really not want her to do this.

"Zuko..."

"I can't watch you kill yourself slowly. Even if you don't die, it'll feel like it anyway, I know it will. I can't watch that" he said as his voice broke slightly. He cleared his throat in a manly-sounding way.

Wren was speechless. She looked up at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. Ah, but she had said it earlier. Her duty was to the world first. And teaching Aang meant saving the world. She held back the tears that fought to show themselves.

"_Fine_" she said gruffly. She turned, picked up her pillow, and marched over to Appa so she could snuggle against him, leaving Zuko standing alone, staring at the ground.


End file.
